The Prisoner of Zenda: Being the History of Three Months in the Life of an English Gentleman (International Collectors Library)

Garden City, New York: International Collectors Library, 1960. Reissue. Hard Cover. Near Fine/No Jacket. 0x0x0. Publisher's insert laid in. Minimal wear to corners. 1960 Hard Cover. vi, [2], 182 pp. Victorian replica binding. Brown leatherette boards, gilt titles and decorations, ribbon marker bound in, beige speckled endpapers. Inspiration for a half dozen films of the same name. The king of the fictional country of Ruritania is drugged on the eve of his coronation and thus unable to attend the ceremony. Political forces are such that in order for the king to retain his crown his coronation must go forward. An English gentleman on holiday who fortuitously resembles the monarch, is persuaded to act as his political decoy in an attempt to save the situation. The villainous Rupert of Hentzau gave his name to the sequel published in 1898, which is included in some editions of this novel. The books were extremely popular and inspired a new genre of Ruritanian romance, including the Graustark novels by George Barr McCutcheon. ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Sir Anthony Hope Hawkins, better known as Anthony Hope (9 February 1863 – 8 July 1933), was an English novelist and playwright. Although he was a prolific writer, especially of adventure novels, he is remembered best for only two books: The Prisoner of Zenda (1894) and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau (1898). These works, 'minor classics' of English literature, are set in the contemporaneous fictional country of Ruritania and spawned the genre known as Ruritanian romance. Zenda has inspired many adaptations, most notably the 1937 Hollywood movie of the same name.