First British edition of the book that established the modern realist novel
Publisher and Year: London: Vizetelly & Co., 1886
Edition: First British edition, first printing. Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Karl Marx's youngest daughter. Three variations of the stamped design are known, with priority remaining undetermined. Copies can be found without an advertisement catalog at the rear, as here, while others have catalogs ranging from 24 pp. to 32 pp. Priority of catalog status is similarly unresolved.
Condition and Description: Octavo, publisher's aqua cloth stamped in gilt and black, plain edges, dark blue coated endpapers, 2 pp. preliminary ads, frontispiece with tissue guard, five additional plates, 383 pp. Rebacked, preserving the spine strip and joint cloth; hinge gutters repaired; rear free endpaper replaced with period stock. Secure hinges and binding. Cloth rubbed, worn, and soiled, with some exposure to the edges and softened corners. Spine strip modestly toned and with slight loss of the gilt along the bottom edge of the publisher imprint. Pencil name to the front free endpaper. Partially erased name to the half-title page. A few small stains to the preliminary leaves, as shown. Interior pages toned but largely clear, with occasional small stains and other minor imperfections, including a crease to the top edge of p. 75 and a small tear to the top-right margin of p. 17.
“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”
Originally published in French in 1857,Madame Bovary was groundbreaking for establishing the modern realist novel. However, the book was widely deemed immoral, with Gustave Flaubert tried for obscenity in France. Publishers in the English-speaking world refused to issue a translated edition for decades. The earliest appearance in English was issued in America in a small and largely overlooked edition in 1881. The Vizetelly 1886 edition was the first to garner widespread attention in the English-speaking world. The British publisher was infamous for embracing controversial material, and Madame Bovary became one of the primary evidentiary exhibits in the obscenity trials against Henry Vizetelly.
Inventory ID: 061 - 912 - 053
First British edition of the book that established the modern realist novel
Publisher and Year: London: Vizetelly & Co., 1886
Edition: First British edition, first printing. Translated by Eleanor Marx-Aveling, Karl Marx's youngest daughter. Three variations of the stamped design are known, with priority remaining undetermined. Copies can be found without an advertisement catalog at the rear, as here, while others have catalogs ranging from 24 pp. to 32 pp. Priority of catalog status is similarly unresolved.
Condition and Description: Octavo, publisher's aqua cloth stamped in gilt and black, plain edges, dark blue coated endpapers, 2 pp. preliminary ads, frontispiece with tissue guard, five additional plates, 383 pp. Rebacked, preserving the spine strip and joint cloth; hinge gutters repaired; rear free endpaper replaced with period stock. Secure hinges and binding. Cloth rubbed, worn, and soiled, with some exposure to the edges and softened corners. Spine strip modestly toned and with slight loss of the gilt along the bottom edge of the publisher imprint. Pencil name to the front free endpaper. Partially erased name to the half-title page. A few small stains to the preliminary leaves, as shown. Interior pages toned but largely clear, with occasional small stains and other minor imperfections, including a crease to the top edge of p. 75 and a small tear to the top-right margin of p. 17.
“Human speech is like a cracked kettle on which we tap crude rhythms for bears to dance to, while we long to make music that will melt the stars.”
Originally published in French in 1857,Madame Bovary was groundbreaking for establishing the modern realist novel. However, the book was widely deemed immoral, with Gustave Flaubert tried for obscenity in France. Publishers in the English-speaking world refused to issue a translated edition for decades. The earliest appearance in English was issued in America in a small and largely overlooked edition in 1881. The Vizetelly 1886 edition was the first to garner widespread attention in the English-speaking world. The British publisher was infamous for embracing controversial material, and Madame Bovary became one of the primary evidentiary exhibits in the obscenity trials against Henry Vizetelly.
Inventory ID: 061 - 912 - 053
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