La Tulip Noire. Paris: Baudry, n.d. [1850]. First edition. Three volumes, later three-quarters red morocco gilt by Stikeman, top edge gilt. 8 7/8 x 5 1/4 inches (22.5 x 14 cm); [2 ff.: half-title, title], 315, [3] pp.; [2 ff.: half-title, title] 304, [2] pp.; [2 ff.: half-title, title], 316, [1] pp. Joints rubbed and fragile, binding wear, top edge trimmed but otherwise uncut, a few leaves dogeared or nicked at the extremities, but in all a very large copy, with the rare half-titles, but lacking the blanks. The half-titles have the catalogs of works published by Baudry on the versos, and were frequently discarded when the work was bound. Bookplate of Katherine Mackay.

Dumas's historical novel is set during the Tulipomania in seventeenth-century Holland. It revolves around the competition to produce the flower of the title, and the trials and tribulations of Cornelius van Baerle, a plantsman and the hero of the novel, who strives to breed it. It is among Dumas's most popular works, and the phrase "a black tulip" has entered the language as a synonym for something of extreme rarity. This first edition is itself not far removed from "black tulip" status. Katherine Mackay, whose bookplate is present here, was the mother of Ellin Berlin (née Mackay); this copy descended to Mary Ellin Barrett, the daughter of Irving Berlin and Katherine Mackay.