The Black Tulip

by Dumas, Alexandre

• ISBN13: 9780486812489
• ISBN10: 0486812480
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2017-06-21
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

A prize of 100,000 guilders awaits the gardener who can produce a black tulip, a rich reward that incites a bitter competition in 17th-century Holland. Cornelius von Baerle, a gifted and passionate florist, has dedicated himself to cultivating the elusive flower. But a ruthless rival, capitalizing on accusations that led to the assassination of Cornelius's godfather, falsely accuses the young horticulturist of treason. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Cornelius conspires with his jailer's daughter to grow the black tulip in secret.
Alexandre Dumas sets his captivating tale in the 1670s, a generation after Holland was gripped by the economic madness of Tulip mania and shortly after the mob lynching of a pair of Dutch statesmen. His fictional treatment of these historic events forms a timeless political allegory in which the rare flower represents the triumph of justice, tolerance, and true love over greed, jealousy, and obsession.

Author Biography

Best known as the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas (1802–70) wrote travel books and children's stories as well as popular historical novels. He ranks among France's most widely read authors, and his works have been translated into nearly 100 languages.

Table of Contents

I. A Grateful People

II. The Two Brothers

III. The Pupil of John de Witt

IV. The Murderers

V. The Amateur Tulip-Grower and his Neighbor

VI. A Tulip-Fancier's Hatred

VII. The Happy Man Becomes Acquainted with Misfortune

VIII. An Incursion

IX. The Family Cell

X. The Jailer's Daughter

XI. The Will of Cornelius van Baerle

XII. The Execution

XIII. The Thoughts of One of the Spectators During the Last Scene

XIV. The Pigeons of Dort

XV. The Wicket in the Cell Door

XVI. Master and Scholar

XVII. The First Bulb

XVIII. Rosa's Lover

XIX. A Woman and a Flower

XX. What had Happened During the Eight Days

XXI. The Second Bulb

XXII. The Opening of the Flower

XXIII. The Jealous Man

XXIV. In which the Black Tulip Changes its Master

XXV. President Van Systens

XXVI. A Member of the Horticultural Society

XXVII. The Third Bulb

XXVIII. The Song of the Flowers

XXIX. In which Van Baerle, before quitting Louvestein, Settles his Accounts with Gryphus

XXX. In which One Begins to Suspect what Kind of Punishment was Reserved for Cornelius Van Baerle        

XXXI. Haarlem

XXXII. A Last Prayer

Conclusion