"The Cardinal's Musketeer", by M. Imlay Taylor, published by A.C. McClurg & Company, Chicago, First Edition, First Printing with '1900' imprinted on the title page and copyright without any other printings listed.

Hard boards, original publisher's green cloth, red and gold decorated front board and spine, frontispiece with tissue guard [some staining]; stamp of John Griff Edwards on the front endpaper and 'Contents' page; 5" x 7.1/2"; 357 pages +2 page publisher's ad, a little soiling, very good condition.

"Miss Taylor has added another successful story to her list of books which deals with the lives of the nobility of Europe. No more successful novelist has developed within recent years than Miss Taylor and her stories have a go about them which attracts readers. Her books have been published abroad and have met with a reception at once encouraging and profitable. Her latest work, "The Cardinal's Musketeer," is a story of the reign of Richelieu and has for its characters the chief people who surrounded or opposed him during the period of his greatest power." [from a review published in 1900]

The central figure in the story enters as a child of unknown name or antecedent, living with a clockmaker in one of the quiet streets of Paris. His youthful career is much like that of other young boys of his time until his brightness of mind and physical beauty attract the attention of the Prince of Conde. The Prince takes him to his own castle, where he is taught the use of arms, the sword being the weapon of the day. So rapid is his progress in the use of this weapon that while fighting a friendly duel with his instructor he is observed by the Cardinal while passing through the courtyard. Richelieu requests of Conde that the young soldier be sent to him to become one of his musketeers. It is needless to say that his identity is completely known to Richelieu, but who, for reasons of his own, maintains secrecy...

The young musketeer falls in love with the daughter of Cardinal's enemy: the story of true love in the atmosphere of trickery, duplicity and the power of the wealthy but unscrupulous classes which surround the pretender to the throne. At the end the evil plots are foiled in every instance by those who adhere loyally to the King and to Richelieu. The action filed historical novel in the best tradition of Alexandre Dumas.

Provenance:

From the library of John Griff Edwards, Portsmouth, Virginia.

John Griff Edwards (1870-1912) belonged to the old established settler family in Virginia. His father and uncles served in the Army of Northern Virginia during the Civil War. The grandfather, LeRoy Griffin Edwards (1804-1866), was the president of the Virginia Convention of 1864. John's wife, Mrs. J. Griff Edwards founded and led the first of the United Confederate Choirs of America (1907). After that she was elected the 'Commander in Chief of the United Confederate Choirs'. In 1911 she published a volume titled "Echoes From Dixie A Collection of Songs Used in the South."

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