Madame Bovary
Paris, Michel Lévy, 1857.
2 vols. (115 x 180 mm), 490 pp. (continuous pagination). In wrappers, in a slipcase.
First edition. First printing with all points present: the misprint “Sénart,” the typographical errors, and the presence of the catalogue.
Thirty-five chapters unfold as a series of tableaux tracing the moments of a life: the story of an ultimately banal adultery, Madame Bovary is above all a novel of dissatisfaction, of frustration born from unfulfilled desire and boredom. “Bovarysme” — a term coined by the philosopher Jules de Gaultier — is defined as the longing for an unknown and deceptive ideal, perceived through an imagination shaped by reading.
Rare in wrappers.
Spines skillfully restored but browned.
Carteret, I, 263–266; Vicaire, III, 721–723; Clouzot, 121; En français dans le texte, 277; Brun, Contribution à l’étude des différents tirages de l’édition originale de Madame Bovary, in Le Livre et l’Estampe, no. 39.
#31378
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