The Lady of the Camellias

[petitechaton]

Hi. I'm new to this forum & hoped that someone there might be able to help me out. I absolutely love Lady of the Camellias by Dumas, fils and want to buy a copy for a friend. But I've been having trouble finding the book in shops and don't know which translations are decent. I have a copy that was published by Heron Books (it doesn't say which year or who translated it into English).
Could anyone recommend a decent current translation to English of this book that I might be able to order from Amazon or a local bookshop?

[Aramis]

I have mostly had good experiences with Amazon. Their used&new books generally seem pretty cheap in this case, and they have a safe-buying guarantee. The best way to see who is a reliable seller there is to check the ratings past customers have given them, and how many customers they have had.

[dfloyd]

Do an advance search with these three publisher: Limited Editions Club, Heritage Press, Easton Press. Their prices will vary from $10 to $75, depending upon the publisher. A Limited Editions Club copy illustrated by Marie Laurencin can be as high as $600, which I am sure you do not want to pay. Don't forget the 1930s movie with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. A real tear jerker.

[Emil Miller]

Do an advance search with these three publisher: Limited Editions Club, Heritage Press, Easton Press. Their prices will vary from $10 to $75, depending upon the publisher. A Limited Editions Club copy illustrated by Marie Laurencin can be as high as $600, which I am sure you do not want to pay. Don't forget the 1930s movie with Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor. A real tear jerker.

An interesting side note to your post is that Marie Laurencin was une artiste manque who made her name during the 1930s and 1940s and features in W.S.Maugham's novel The Razor's Edge;she also painted Maugham's portrait.

[dfloyd]

was she in there with her real name? Or how do you recognize her. She (Marie Laurencin) illustrated Camille in 1937. I would love to have a copy but in Fine condition they sell for about $600. She signed all 1500 printed copies in pencil.

[Emil Miller]

She appears in the novel as Suzanne Rouvier, who models for various artists before deciding to take up painting for herself. According to 'A William Somerset Maugham Encyclopedia' by Samuel J. Rogal, she also produced watercolours and lithographs for book illustrations.

Here is the portrait of Maughman painted by Laurencin in 1936.

http://i581.photobucket.com/albums/ss260/brianbean/scan0006-1.jpg

[kasie]

And don't forget Verdi set it as La Traviata.