The Talisman -- Easton Press / Dark Brown Leather
Sir Walter Scott, Federico Castellon
(The Easton Press, July 6, 1976)
This is a book originally sold by The Easton Press, 47 Richards Avenue, Norwalk, CT 06857 as part of its "100 Greatest Books Ever Written Collector's Edition" collection which then evolved into "The Greatest Books Ever Written" collection. Many of the books carry a 1979 copyright but may have been printed in different years with different cover art. This is a leather-bound volume featuring 22kt gold accents, illustrations, moire fabric endsheets, gilded page ends, and a satin-ribbon page marker. The Talisman is a novel by Sir Walter Scott. It was published in 1825 as the second of his Tales of the Crusaders, the first being The Betrothed. The Talisman takes place at the end of the Third Crusade, mostly in the camp of the Crusaders in Palestine. Scheming and partisan politics, as well as the illness of King Richard the Lionheart, are placing the Crusade in danger. The main characters are the Scottish knight Kenneth, a fictional version of David of Scotland, Earl of Huntingdon, who returned from the third Crusade in 1190; Richard the Lionheart; Saladin; and Edith Plantagenet, a relative of Richard.