The Memoirs of Casanova, Volume 1
Translated by Arthur Machen
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The opening
CHAPTER I My Family Pedigree—My Childhood
My Family Pedigree—My Childhood
Don Jacob Casanova, the illegitimate son of Don Francisco Casanova, was a native of Saragosa, the capital of Aragon, and in the year of 1428 he carried off Dona Anna Palofax from her convent, on the day after she had taken the veil. He was secretary to King Alfonso. He ran away with her to Rome, where, after one year of imprisonment, the pope, Martin III., released Anna from her vows, and gave them the nuptial blessing at the instance of Don Juan Casanova, majordomo of the Vatican, and uncle of Don Jacob. All the children born from that marriage died in their infancy, with the exception of Don Juan, who, in 1475, married Donna Eleonora Albini, by whom he had a son, Marco Antonio.
In 1481, Don Juan, having killed an officer of the king of Naples, was compelled to leave Rome, and escaped to Como with his wife and his son; but having left that city to seek his fortune, he died while traveling with Christopher Columbus in the year 1493.
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About this edition
- The words
- Arthur Machen's English translation, copied word for word.
- Copied from
- Left out
- The source library's header, footer and license, in 3 places
- The title page and opening pages before chapter 1, in 2 places
- A web-page label ('ENLARGE TO FULL SIZE') from the picture of the cover, not the book's text
- The printed table of contents (the app makes its own)
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers
- A preface, foreword or afterword
- Other material that isn't the author's