illustrated with photogravures and engravings from paintings by Maurice Leloir [and others]

v. 1-2. The Count of Monte Cristo.--
v. 3-4. The two Dianas.--
v. 5-6. The page of the Duke of Savoy.--
v. 7. Margaret de Valois.--
v. 8. Chicot the jester.--
v. 9. The forty-five guardsmen.--
v. 10. The three guardsmen.--
v. 11. Twenty years after.--
v. 12. The vicomte de Bragelonne.--
v. 13. Ten years later.--
v. 14. Louise de la Valliere.--
v. 15. The man in the iron mask.--
v. 16. The Chevalier d'Harmental.--
v. 17. The regent's daughter.--
v. 18. Joseph Balsamo.--
v. 19. The memoirs of a physician.--
v. 20. The queen's necklace.--
v. 21. Taking the Bastile.--
v. 22. The Countess de Charny.--
v. 23. The Chevalier de Maison Rouge.--
v. 24-25. The whites and the blues.

The Forty-five guards were recruited by the Jean Louis de Nogaret de La Valette, Duke of Épernon to provide Henry III of France with trusted protection in the midst of the War of the Three Henrys.
The Forty-five were noblemen of lesser nobility (many from Gascony) with little more than a horse, a sword, and a few acres to live on. In the king's service, they were paid a lavish wage (by their standards). In return, 15 of them were to be on duty, day or night, ready at the king's call.
After the Catholic League revolt in Paris, King Henry III was forced to flee to Blois, there, he staged a coup, regaining control of the Estates-General by employing the Forty-five to kill Henry I, Duke of Guise when he came to meet the king at the Château de Blois on 23 December 1588, and his brother, Louis II, Cardinal of Guise, the following day.

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