The Black Tulip is a historical novel written by Alexandre Dumas. The city of Haarlem in The Netherlands has set a prize of 100,000 guilders to the person who can grow a black tulip, sparking competition between the country’s best gardeners to win the money, honour and fame. The young and bourgeois Cornelius van Baerle has almost succeeded, but is suddenly thrown into the Loevestein prison. There he meets the prison guard’s beautiful daughter Rosa, who will be his comfort and help, and at last his rescuer.