Giacomo Casanova, History of My Life, First translated in English in accordance with the original French manuscript by Willard R. Trask, (Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, N.Y., 1971.

Casanova provides a wonderful first-hand view of 18th century, top to bottom, from Moscow to London. He was what contemporaries described as an "adventurer," meaning a combination confidence man, entrepreneur, and gambler. His autobiography (six thick volumes in the English translation) describes his life through about age forty. It is a vividly written memoir which provided material for several later writers. The escape in The Count of Monte Cristo is apparently based on Casanova's real life escape from under the leads in Venice (a story he seems to have dined out on for the rest of his life), and the memoirs were also a major influence on Thomas Mann's Felix Krull.

The original manuscript of the memoirs only came to light after World War II. Previous translations are based on a published version that had been heavily edited, after Casanova's death, by an editor who was not nearly as good a writer as Casanova.