1920 Bayntun First Rowland Wheelwright Illustrated Edition- The Three Musketeers

The first Rowland Wheelwright-illustrated edition of Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers (1920), with sixteen colour plates, in a signed full-calf binding by Bayntun of Bath.

Author: Alexandre Dumas; illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright.
Title: The Three Musketeers.
Publisher: London, George G. Harrap & Company Ltd., 1920.
Edition: First edition illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright; first published May 1920.
Language: English.
Pages: 555 pages, with preliminary leaves.
Size: 9 × 6 inches.
Binding: Full brown calf by Bayntun of Bath, with double gilt fillet borders to the boards, raised bands, gilt-tooled spine, contrasting red and brown leather lettering pieces, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers and all edges gilt. The binder’s stamp, “Bayntun, Binder, Bath, Eng.”, appears on a preliminary leaf. Near fine, with minimal signs of handling; removable protective cover.
Content: Near fine, clean and complete, with occasional minor age-related marks.
Illustrations: Sixteen full-page colour illustrations by Rowland Wheelwright, including the frontispiece; complete.

Estimate: USD 1,000–1,250.

The book: First published in French in 1844, Alexandre Dumas’s The Three Musketeers follows d’Artagnan and his companions Athos, Porthos and Aramis amid the political intrigues of seventeenth-century France. This 1920 Harrap edition is the first illustrated by Rowland Wheelwright, whose sixteen colour plates depict scenes and characters from the novel.

This copy is distinguished by its full-calf binding by Bayntun of Bath, identified by the binder’s stamp on a preliminary leaf. The gilt decoration, contrasting lettering pieces, marbled endpapers and gilt edges are characteristic elements of a traditional English fine binding. The combination of Wheelwright’s complete series of plates and the signed Bayntun binding gives the volume its particular bibliographical and material interest.

The author: Alexandre Dumas (1802–1870) was a French novelist and playwright known for his historical romances, including The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. His fiction combines historical settings with elaborate plots and memorable recurring characters.

The illustrator: Rowland Wheelwright (1870–1955) was a British painter and illustrator who studied at the Herkomer School of Art in Bushey. His illustrations for literary and historical subjects include the sixteen colour plates commissioned for this edition of Dumas’s novel.