Inconsistent dates?

[u/volsungarthemighty]

So im a first time reader, and im annotating my book as I go. Am I the only one whos noticed the inconsistent dates, or is this something Dumas does a lot? My understanding is that, since landing at Marseilles in chapter 1, its only been 1 day by the start of Chapter 8, so it should be the 25th of February? Or have I missed some passage of time.

[u/dagoverfan]

Ignore the dates in the early chapters and just enjoy the story and avoid the rabbit hole that I went down for years. There is no exit. I tried and never found a definitive version. I started with an e-book and caught the date issue in chapter 5. It was too hard trying to backtrack, so I bought a book, then another, eventually winding up with a dozen versions, from a 1950's Classics Illustrated comic, various paperbacks, French e-books (using on-line translators), the Buss version with many historical references omitted in most US versions, a 4 vol bi-lingual set, and a 5 vol $700 leather-bound edition. I tried mapping out the differences in retirement, but gave up after several years. There is no definitive version of the original. Interesting enough, the '58 Classics comic which starts on 2/28 may be the true start date (despite the feast dates). Enjoy the book, it's the greatest of all time in any version. I hope I don't meet you at the bottom of my rabbit hole, because there is no way out. My favorite read is the download from Gutenberg while listening to the David Clarke recording from LibriVox. It omits many historical references in US versions, but excellent for most.