324 - DUMAS (Alexandre).

DUMAS (Alexandre). Twenty Years Later. Brussels: Alph. Lebègue and Sacré, Sons, printers and publishers, 1845. 8 tomes in 4 in-16 volumes of 129, 135, 128, 134, 146, 139, 143, and 128 pp. (including the half-titles and titles in the page count for each tome). Brown half-calf with corners, smooth spine with decorative embellishments, title and volume number in gold (contemporary binding). Head, fore-edge, and corners worn. A rare Belgian preface edition, one of the very first volume editions, published in Brussels in 1845 and preceding Baudry’s Paris edition, approved by Dumas. The first Belgian printings retain the chapter “Le Bonhomme Broussel” (pp. 81–90 of Volume III), which is absent from Baudry’s edition and standard editions. Foreign translations were, in fact, based on these early Belgian editions, which were more “complete” than the later editions approved by the author. The text was compiled directly from the serialized publication in *Le Siècle* from January to August 1845. The first Brussels editions all preceded Baudry’s Paris edition. Munro ranks Lebègue’s edition third, after Hauman and Méline, but the order of priority remains difficult to establish, as all three publications were completed in August 1845: it actually depends on the publication date of their final volume. Lebègue, who had already published the first volume edition of *The Three Musketeers*, naturally had every interest in beating his competitors to the market with this sequel. A few small foxing spots. Some very slight gnawing in places at the corners. A fine copy in a period binding for the famous sequel to *The Three Musketeers*. (See Douglas Munro, *Alexandre Dumas Père, A Bibliography of Works published in French 1825–1900*, p. 166—Munro gives this different collation for another Belgian preface, also published in Brussels and Leipzig by Muquardt; see Vicaire III, 368–369 for the Parisian edition by Baudry.)