Madame Bovary

London: Vizetelly & Co, 1886. First Edition. Fine. First English edition of the first modern novel (!). First binding in original decorated cloth with gilt, leaf and coin, bars above and below the title on the front cover. Foxing to the page edges (the only signal of age that would distinguish it from a 21st century facsimile) else a fine copy (pristine), as fresh and as square as the day it was published, spectacular quality for any major 19th century novel, and the kind of book everybody seeks but gives up on in the fatigue of failed pursuit. Certainly wrapped up and packed away for 100 years shortly after purchase because even shelving in a well kept library would have left some signs of wear, sunlight, or dust. Translated by Eleanor Marx (Karl Marx's daughter), who contributed a long and perceptive introduction to the novel. Half buffalo skin case. “Madame Bovary” is a watershed moment in literary history, marking the decisive transition from Romanticism to literary modernity through its unprecedented narrative techniques and social critique. The novel's significance lies in Flaubert's revolutionary "impersonal" narrative stance—his rigorous cultivation of aesthetic distance through free indirect discourse—which simultaneously permits intimate access to Emma Bovary's consciousness while maintaining critical detachment from her romantic delusions. This narrative innovation, coupled with Flaubert's meticulous documentation of provincial bourgeois life and his precision in language (his famed quest for le mot juste), established a new paradigm for fictional representation that would influence successive generations of novelists from James to Joyce. Moreover, by positioning his protagonist within the stifling constraints of nineteenth-century provincial society while examining the psychological consequences of romantic idealism colliding with banal reality, Flaubert inaugurated the distinctly modern novelistic preoccupation with subjectivity in crisis—the alienated individual trapped between idealized aspirations and the mundane circumstances of modern existence. The novel's formal innovations thus cannot be separated from its thematic content: both represent a radical break from earlier fictional modes and establish the essential coordinates for what would become recognized as literary modernity.

It was Eleanor Marx's 1886 translation that first opened new pathways for this influential work to reach English-speaking audiences. Despite the novel's controversial status, which had kept it from English readers for nearly three decades, Marx's meticulous work successfully conveyed Flaubert's revolutionary techniques to a new readership. In her introduction, she demonstrated remarkable candor and intellectual honesty, openly acknowledging the impossibility of perfectly reproducing Flaubert's inimitable style, yet affirming her commitment to absolute textual fidelity—proudly declaring that she had "neither suppressed a line, nor added a word." This transparent assessment reveals Marx's deep respect for both the source text and her readers, establishing an ethical standard for translation that values authenticity over embellishment. Her version particularly captures the novel's implicit critique of capitalist social relations, emphasizing how provincial bourgeois life entraps individuals—particularly women—within confining economic and social structures. What makes Marx's translation especially compelling is the haunting biographical resonance between translator and subject—12 years after translating the novel in which Emma Bovary poisoned herself with arsenic, Eleanor would take her own life by drinking prussic acid, following a period of unfaithful relationships and mounting debts that eerily echoed Emma's fictional trajectory. Through this translation, Marx not only transmitted Flaubert's artistic vision but also contributed to the global development of literary realism, all while unknowingly approaching a personal fate that would mirror the tragic heroine whose story she had rendered into English. Despite occasional critical debates about its quality, her translation remains remarkably accessible even to modern readers, securing its position as a lasting contribution to the literary canon. (Inventory #: 1158)