THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE STATE PRISONER, COMMONLY CALLED THE IRON MASK, Extracted from Documents in the French Archives.

First edition. Publisher's original drab paper-covered boards with printed paper title label to the spine. Page edges untrimmed. A very good copy, the binding square and firm with bumping to the corners and a little chipping and a couple of minor old repairs to the spine. The contents with a touch of occasional light scattered foxing are otherwise in very good order, clean throughout and remain free from any previous owners' inscriptions or stamps.

A detailed study of the legendary "Man in the Iron Mask" - the mysterious figure who was held captive by the French government from 1687 until his death in 1703, spending most of that time in the Bastille. Long thought to have been the identical twin brother of Louis XIV, here Agar-Ellis concludes that is was in fact the Italian politician Antonio Ercole Matthioli (1640-1694), who had been arrested for treason after selling state secrets. Providing an account of the legend's history and a narrative of Matthioli's own misadventures, followed by the text of 133 contemporary letters from documents in the French archives, the present work was an important source for Alexandre Dumas in writing his story "The Man in the Iron Mask", which formed the most famous and thrilling adventure in "The Vicomte of Bragelonne", the third and final of "The d'Artagnan Romances" charting the swashbuckling escapades of The Three Musketeers.