Scaramouche is a historical novel by Rafael Sabatini, originally published in 1921. A romantic adventure, Scaramouche tells the story of a young lawyer during the French Revolution. In the course of his adventures he becomes an actor portraying "Scaramouche" (a roguish buffoon character in the commedia dell'arte). He also becomes a revolutionary, politician, and fencing-master, confounding his enemies with his powerful orations and swordsmanship. He is forced by circumstances to change sides several times. The book also depicts his transformation from cynic to idealist. The three-part novel opens with the memorable line: "He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad." This line was to become Sabatini's epitaph, on his gravestone in Adelboden, Switzerland. Rafael Sabatini (29 April 1875 – 13 February 1950) was an Italian-English writer of romance and adventure novels. He is best known for his worldwide bestsellers: The Sea Hawk (1915), Scaramouche (1921), Captain Blood (a.k.a. The Odyssey of Captain Blood) (1922), and Bellarion the Fortunate (1926). In all, Sabatini produced 34 novels, eight short story collections, six non-fiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and several plays.
Rafael Sabatini (29 April 1875 – 13 February 1950) was an Italian-English writer of romance and adventure novels. He is best known for his worldwide bestsellers: The Sea Hawk (1915), Scaramouche (1921), Captain Blood (a.k.a. The Odyssey of Captain Blood) (1922), and Bellarion the Fortunate (1926). In all, Sabatini produced 34 novels, eight short story collections, six non-fiction books, numerous uncollected short stories, and several plays. Rafael Sabatini was born in Iesi, Italy, to an English mother, Anna Trafford, and Italian father, Vincenzo Sabatini. His parents were opera singers who then became teachers. At a young age, Sabatini was exposed to many languages, living with his grandfather in England, attending school in Portugal, and, as a teenager, in Switzerland. By the time he was 17, when he returned to England to live permanently, he had become proficient in five languages. He quickly added a sixth language – English – to his linguistic collection. He consciously chose to write in his adopted language, because, he said, "all the best stories are written in English". After a brief stint in the business world, Sabatini went to work as a writer. He wrote short stories in the 1890s, and his first novel came out in 1902. In 1905, he married Ruth Goad Dixon, the daughter of a Liverpool merchant. It took Sabatini roughly a quarter of a century of hard work before he attained success with Scaramouche in 1921. The novel, an historical romance set during the French Revolution, became an international bestseller. It was followed by the equally successful Captain Blood (1922). All of his earlier books were rushed into reprints, the most popular of which was The Sea Hawk (1915). Sabatini was a prolific writer; he produced a new book approximately every year and maintained a great deal of popularity with the reading public through the decades that followed. Several of his novels were adapted into films during the silent era, and the first three of these books were made into notable films in the sound era: The Sea Hawk in 1940, Scaramouche in 1952, and Captain Blood in 1935. His third novel Bardelys the Magnificent was made into a famous 1926 "lost" film of the same title, directed by King Vidor, starring John Gilbert, and long viewable only in a fragment excerpted in Vidor's silent comedy Show People (1928). A few intact reels have recently been discovered in Europe. The fully restored version premièred on TCM on 11 January 2010. Two silent adaptations of Sabatini novels which do survive intact are Rex Ingram's Scaramouche (1923) starring Ramón Novarro, and The Sea Hawk (1924) directed by Frank Lloyd and starring Milton Sills. The 1940 film The Sea Hawk, with Errol Flynn, is not a remake but a wholly new story which just used the title.[citation needed] A silent version of Captain Blood (1924), starring J. Warren Kerrigan, is partly lost, surviving only in an incomplete copy in the Library of Congress. The Black Swan (1942) was filmed starring Tyrone Power and Maureen O'Hara.
Scaramouche tells the story of an unlikely hero during the French Revolution. Andre-Louis Moreau, a lawyer, is transformed from cynic to idealist as circumstances force him to change sides several times during the conflict in France. He becomes a revolutionary, politician, and fencing-master, confounding his enemies with his powerful orations and swordsmanship.
Rafael Sabatini’s 1921 novel has been adapted numerous times, most famously in 1952 with Stewart Granger in the title role.
Set against the backdrop of the Spanish invasion of England during the reign of Elizabeth I, The Sea Hawk is a classic of the pirate genre.
Sir Oliver Tressilian is betrayed by a jealous half-brother and forced to serve as a slave on a galley. He is liberated when the ship is hijacked by Barbary pirates. Sir Oliver joins the pirates, gaining the name "Sakr-el-Bahr" (the hawk of the sea), and swears vengeance against his brother. The book was the basis for The Sea Hawk, the popular 1940 Errol Flynn swashbuckler.
This new digital edition of The Sea Hawk by Rafael Sabatini includes an image gallery.
Captain Blood is a classic adventure novel by Rafael Sabatini. Captain Blood is an adventure story set during the end of the seventeenth century. Dr. Peter Blood is an ex-soldier and sailor whose work as a physician on the battlefield sees him convicted for treason and sent as a slave to the Caribbean. Blood's talents are soon recognized, though he doesn't remain on the plantation for long. When the Spanish attack, Blood is among a group of ex-slaves who capture their ship and become some of the most feared buccaneers of the Caribbean. As part of our mission to publish great works of literary fiction and nonfiction, Sheba Blake Publishing Corp. is extremely dedicated to bringing to the forefront the amazing works of long dead and truly talented authors.
Captain Blood is one of the great pirate stories. First published in 1922, Rafael Sabatini’s novel has never been out of print. It was the basis for the hit Warner Bros. movie Captain Blood (1935), starring Errol Flynn.
Although Blood is a fictional character, much of the historical background of the novel is based on fact. Blood is loosely based on Henry Pitman, a surgeon who tended the wounded Monmouth rebels and was sentenced to penal transportation to Barbados where he escaped and was captured by pirates. Unlike the fictional Blood, Pitman did not join them, and eventually made his way back to England where he wrote a popular account of his adventures. For Blood's life as a buccaneer, author Rafael Sabatini used several models, including Henry Morgan and the work of Alexandre Exquemelin, for historical details.
This new digital edition of Captain Blood includes an image gallery.
