From A Bibliography of Alexandre Dumas père by Frank Wild Reed: A prose drama in five acts, drawn from Dumas' romance "Catherine Blum."
It is a remarkably close re-handling of the story, in many places large portions of the dialogue remaining unaltered.
A pretty little sylvan piece, in which the keepers, with whose lives Dumas was so familiar in his youth, play the principal roles.
The story of its first production at Marseilles is most amusingly told by Dumas in "Bric-à-Brac," and not less so by de Villemessant, though the insinuation of this latter is considerably discounted by the well-authenticated facts of Dumas' wonderful facility, and especially so when the material was ready in his brain. At Villers-Cotterets, however, they still point out the Moulin de Wallu as the place where Dumas composed this play. Parran gives its original title as "Les Gardes Forestiers."
First performed at the Grand Theatre of Marseilles on the 23rd of March. 1858.
It was later very successful in Paris and the provinces, and notably so in Dumas' native district.
Parran knows of no edition anterior to that of 1865, when it appeared in the "Musée Littéraire;" Paris, Michel Lévy Frères, 4to.
It is now in Vol. XIII. of the 15 Vol. collection of plays issued by Calmann-Lévy, and in Vol XXI. of the same firm's issue in 25 Vols.
References :— Lecomte: "Alexandre Dumas," pp. 91 and 121.
Ferry: "Dernières Années d'Alex. Dumas," pp. 37-39, 307-10. Parran: "Bibliographie d'Alex, Dumas," page 36. Glinel: "Alex. Dumas et Son Oeuvre," page 445.
Dumas: "Bric-à-Brac."—"Comment j'ai fait à Marseille le drame des 'Forestiers.' "
Villemessant: "Mémoires d'un Journaliste," Série II., pp. 278-281.
Michaux: "Souvenirs Personnels sur A. Dumas," pp. 85-111.
"Monument d'Alexandre Dumas," pp. 22-23.
"Journal de l'Aisne," August 30th, 1865.
