Legends
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Swashbucklers & Fops

Sources · Swordplay · Rapier & Dagger · Dumas
[Picture - A Swordfight] How can one resist an essay that begins
As a book lover, I was spoilt as a child, surrounded by the prolific writings of various ancestors, both Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932 - Wind In The Willows, Reluctant Dragon,) and Sir Anthony Hope-Hawkins (Rupert of Hentzau, and the classic Prisoner Of Zenda)...
This astonishing line opens a short essay called "Zenda" that appeared in First Word, a 1998 online magazine at Oxford University entirely without credits or email addresses. The site has disappeared without a trace, and I've never known who had such illustrious ancestors, but the quote has been part of Legends from the beginning, and I am not yet willing to let it go.

The Ruritania Novels

Anthony Hope's The Prisoner of Zenda is available as illustrated HTML at the University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center.

The Prisoner of Zenda and its sequel Rupert of Hentzau as HTML at ClassicReader.com. New!

The Scarlet Pimpernel

The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emma Orczy is available in electronic format as text file or as hypertext. Also now available from Project Gutenberg: El Dorado: An Adventure of the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Blakeney Manor (New URL) , the "almost official" Scarlet Pimpernel site, houses The Scarlet Pimpernel E-text Library, including texts of:
  • The Scarlet Pimpernel
  • I Will Repay!
  • The Elusive Pimpernel
  • Eldorado
  • Lord Tony's Wife
  • The League of the Scarlet Pimpernel
  • The Way of the Scarlet Pimpernel
  • Sir Percy Leads the Band
  • Mam'zelle Guillotine
  • Sir Percy Hits Back
  • A Child of the Revolution
  • Adventures of the Scarlet Pimpernel
  • The Triumph of the Scarlet Pimpernel
  • The Pimpernel and Rosemary
  • The Life and Exploits of the Scarlet Pimpernel
  • The Laughing Cavalier
  • The First Sir Percy

Cyrano

Savien Cyrano de Bergerac (1619-1655) , the French soldier, satirist, and dramatist, whose life has been the basis of many romantic but unhistorical legends.

Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, in French.

Cyrano de Bergerac translated by Gladys Thomas and Mary F. Guillemard.

Voyage dans la Lune & Histoire comique des etats et empires du Soleil, by the real Cyrano de Bergerac, at ABU: la Bibliothèque Universelle.

Rafael Sabatini

The Life and Work of Rafael Sabatini includes a biography by Jesse F. Knight, articles, images, and bibilography. New !

The Novels of Rafael Sabatini:

Zorro

Zorro first appeared in Johnston McCulley's 1919 serialized novel The Curse of Capistrano. The History of Zorro is at Zorro.com.




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26 December 2005