A beautiful hardcover edition of one of the most notorious and entertaining novels of all time, a tale of feuding ex-lovers set among the decadent aristocrats of pre-Revolutionary France The Marquise de Merteuil and the Vicomte de Valmont are jaded, predatory libertines—formerly lovers and now rivals—who amuse themselves with games of seduction and revenge using innocent human beings as their pawns. When a playful wager between them goes awry and Valmont finds himself unexpectedly falling in love with the virtuous married woman who is his intended victim, Merteuil reacts with enraged jealousy. The result is all-out war, an escalating exchange of deceptions, revelations, and betrayals that leaves no one untouched by tragedy. Choderlos de Laclos’s story, first published in France in 1782, has endured for more than two centuries and inspired multiple plays, operas, ballets, television series, and films. But the original novel, told through letters among the characters, remains the best way to experience this riveting duel between two extraordinary personalities. Everyman's Library pursues the highest production standards, printing on acid-free cream-colored paper, with full-cloth cases with two-color foil stamping, decorative endpapers, silk ribbon markers, European-style half-round spines, and a full-color illustrated jacket. Everyman’s Library Classics include an introduction, a bibliography, and a chronology of the author's life and times. Pierre Choderlos De Laclos was born in 1741 in Amiens, France. He spent most of his career as an army officer in garrison towns, enjoying provincial society, writing light verse, and reaching the rank of capitaine-commandant without ever seeing battle. In 1779 he was sent to the island of Aix, where he wrote Les Liaisons Dangereuses, publishing it in 1782. He left the army to enter politics in 1788, just before the French Revolution, was imprisoned twice during the Reign of Terror, and returned to the army as a general under Napoleon in 1800. He died in Italy in 1803.