Alexandre Dumas

Celebrated Crimes, Vol. I by Alexandre Dumas, Fiction, Short Stories, Literary Collections

In this first volume of his CELEBRATED CRIMES, Dumas chronicles the annals of the Borgias and the Cenci. The "crimes" of the Borgias are legend; the name of the noted and notorious Florentine family has become a synonym for intrigue and violence, and yet the Borgias have not been without stanch defenders in history. The Cenci are nearly as ill-famed. The beautiful Beatrice Cenci -- celebrated in the painting of Guido, the sixteenth century romance of Guerrazi, and the poetic tragedy of Shelley, not to mention numerous succeeding works inspired by her hapless fate -- will always remain a shadowy figure and one of infinite pathos.(Vol. I of VIII)