Dumas (Alexander) The Count of Monte Christo, 3 vol., contemporary ink ownership inscription, bookseller's label to pastedown, contemporary half calf, spines gilt, a little rubbed and scuffed, small 8vo, London and Dublin, Sims and M'Intyre, 1848.

⁂ An exceptionally scarce early edition, the second printing of the first English translation of one of the most popular and important novels of the 19th century.

Following the huge success of the novel in France, there was a scramble between the publishers Chapman and Hall and Simms and M'Intyre to be the first to publish it in English. Simms and M'Intyre managed to publish first with a translation by Emma Hardy in March 1846 before the Chapman and Hall edition in May of the same year. The first English translation can be identified by two small but significant issue points in the text - Christo is spelled with the additional "h" throughout and the date in the first line of the text is given as 24th February, it was later revised to the 28th. The first English translation is exceptionally scarce with only a handful of copies known, this edition, the second printing, is similarly scarce in its own right.