Monsieur Beaucaire.

TARKINGTON, Booth.

$475.00

Item Number: 137803

New York: McClure, Philips, 1900.

First edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning author’s second novel, basis for the classic 1946 film starring Bob Hope. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author, “And live men are just names! said M. Beaucaire.” Booth Tarkington. For Miss Carmel Myers.” In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise box.

The adventures of a dashing young prince who dispensed with protocol in selecting his wife. He hit upon the unique scheme of impersonating a barber in order to be perfectly free to choose the lady of his heart. The prince is actually Louis Phillipe de Valois, cousin of Louis XV of France, and certainly no gallant ever encountered more adventure in the pursuit of a bride. The story has been adapted several times. In collaboration with Evelyn Greenleaf Sutherland, Tarkington adapted it as a play in 1904 starring Evelyn Millard and Lewis Waller. The play received a Royal Command Performance at Windsor Castle before Edward VII. André Messager used it as the basis for an opera of the same name in 1919. A 1924 film adaptation on which Tarkington was credited as co-author of the screenplay starred Rudolph Valentino. Another film released in 1946 featured Bob Hope. A loose adaptation of the story served as the basis for the 1930 film Monte Carlo directed by Ernst Lubitsch and starring Jeanette MacDonald.