Dumas' most popular novel, The Three Musketeers, has long been a favorite with children, and its heroes are well-known from many a film and TV adaptation. Set in France in the seventeenth century, it follows the fortunes of d'Artagnan, a poor Gascon gentleman, who arrives in Paris to join the King's Musketeers and is befriended by three of them, Athos, Porthos, and Aramis, with whom he embarks on a career of adventure and romance. Dumas is a brilliant story-teller: inexhaustibly inventive, a master of dialogue, and with a free sense of drama and of historical period, he seizes the reader's attention on the first page and holds it to the last. Everyman's Library reprints the first, and the best, English translation, by William Barrow.

Three presents of M. D'Artagnan, the father -- Antechamber of M. De Treville -- Audience -- Shoulder of Athos, the belt of Porthos, and the handkerchief of Aramis -- King's musketeers and the cardinal's guards -- His Majesty, King Louis the Thirteenth -- Domestic manners of the musketeers -- Court intrigue -- D'Artagnan begins to show himself -- Mousetrap of the seventeenth century -- Intrigue becomes confused -- George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham -- Monsieur Bonancieux -- Man of Meung -- Civilians and soldiers -- In which the keeper of the seals, Seguier, looked more than once after the bell, that he might ring it as he had been used to do -- Bonancieux household -- Lover and the husband -- Plan of campaign -- Journey -- Countess de Winter -- Ballet of 'The Merlaiso' -- Appointment -- Pavilion -- Porthos -- Thesis of Aramis -- Wife of Athos -- Return -- Hunt after Equipments -- 'My Lady' -- English and French -- Attorney's dinner -- Maid and mistress -- Concerning the equipments of Aramis and Porthos -- All cats are alike gray in the dark -- Dream of vengeance -- Lady's secret -- How, without disturbing himself, Athos obtained his equipment -- Charming vision -- Terrible vision -- Siege of La Rochelle -- Wine of Anjou -- Red Dove-Cot Tavern -- Utility of stove funnels -- Conjugal scene -- Bastion of St. Gervais -- Council of the musketeers -- Family affair -- Fatality -- Chat between a brother and sister -- Officer -- First day of Imprisonment -- Second day of Imprisonment -- Third day of imprisonment -- Fourth day of imprisonment -- Fifth day of imprisonment -- Event in classical tragedy -- Escape -- What happened at Portsmouth, on the twenty-third of August, 1628 -- In France -- Carmelite convent of Bethune -- Two kinds of demons -- Drop of water -- Man in the red cloak -- Judgment -- Execution -- Message from the cardinal -- Epilogue.