The delights of Dumas’ novels are well known but less known today are his tales of Robin Hood. Basing his work on an English serial-turned-novel called Robin Hood and Little John by the younger Pierce Egan, Dumas adapted the volume and it was published after his death in 1870 in two volumes titled Le Prince des voleurs (1872) and Robin Hood le proscrit (1873). These were translated back into English by A.R. Allinson and published as A Prince of Thieves and Robin Hood: The Outlaw by Methuen in 1904-5. They have since virtually disappeared from bookshelves and are even hard to find online; here, they are now edited, corrected, and made accessible to the world in print and e-formats, by the Reginetta Press.
In this first volume, Alexandre Dumas relates his own unique version of Robin Hood's origins and upbringing, how Robin was robbed of his heritage, how Robin becomes acquainted with Marian, Little John, Friar Tuck, and the Merrie Men, and the events leading up to Robin Hood's life as an outlaw. Alfred Allinson's translation lends enchantingly antique wording, transporting us to the charm of a Sherwood Forest of former, fanciful days.
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