INTRODUCTION AND NOTE ON THE AUTHOR

The writer of this story is usually known as Alexandre Dumas, Père, to distinguish him from his son Alexandre who was also a well-known writer.

While struggling to educate himself Dumas made a close study of French history which, later on, provided the material for many of his historical novels. He had a most vivid imagination which produced endless ideas and altogether there appeared, under his name, some 257 books of travel, tales, novels and even stories for children, together with some 25 books of plays and poetry, but the best known of his works are Three Musketeers, Twenty Years After, The Count of Monte Cristo and The Black Tulip.

The Three Musketeers is one of the finest historical novels Dumas ever wrote. It has for its setting France in the days of Louis XIII and his Minister Cardinal Richelieu. The chief characters are three of the King's Musketeers and their companion, an excitable young guardsman. Their loyalty to one another is unbreakable and they keep firmly their motto "All for one and one for all". They are all wonderful swordsmen and their blades flash with the same fearless determination whether in the service of the King or following some plan of adventure of their own.

Court intrigues, romance, duels, devil-may-care adventures—all are woven with the greatest cleverness into a lively story that is read and read again the world over.