The Nuptuals of Corbal

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1927. First American edition. 1 vols. 8vo. Original blue cloth with bumped corners and illustrated endpapers. Dust jacket in very good condition: abraded fore-edges and small (3-5mm) DJ chipping at spine corners. First American edition. 1 vols. 8vo. French Revolutionary love triangle. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, this book became the basis of the 1936 British film "the Marriage of Corbal," starring Nils Asther, Hugh Sinclair, and Hazel Terry. It tells the story of the aristocratic Cleonie, the object of affection of the Marquis of Corbal and Citizen-Deputy Varennes. Cleonie is saved from prison by Citizen-Deputy Varennes, who disguises her as his nephew and smuggles her out of France. TV Guide notes of the film adaptation that some of the racier scenes were clipped for the US release.

Rafael Sabatini (1875-1950) is today best known for his novel Captain Blood. His Italian father and English mother were both well-known opera singers, and Sabatini took up writing after a brief stint in the business world.

The Nuptials of Corbal is one of Rafael Sabatini's lesser-known, earlier novels, but displays the same heroics and swashbuckling narrative as his more famous work, Captain Blood.