Madame Bovary

New York, New York, U.S.A: Random House, 1957. Book Club (BCE/BOMC). Hardcover. Very Good/Good. 8vo - over 7?" - 9?" tall. Type: Hardback Classic French Literature. Hardcover Book Club Edition in Very Good Condition with a Good Vintage Dust Jacket. Introduction and translation from the French by Francis Steegmuller. First published 1857. This new translation was published as part of the centenary celebration of the first publication in 1857. Binding of navy decorated half cloth with gilt titles, light blue decorated cloth-wrapped boards, quite clean, light tanning to upper edge and fore edge, whisper of wear; tight, solid and square binding. Vignettes as head piece at chapter headings. Fore edge and lower edge rough cut. Pages quite clean, no markings, lightly and evenly toned. Peach jacket cover with illustration from Gavarni's Series "Les Gens De Paris: En Carnaval". It is clean, spine tanned, corners and spine head and heel chipped. Protected in archival sleeve. The novel's focus is on the life of an ordinary woman, Madame Bovary, wife of a provincial doctor in France mid- 19th century. 19th Century French Literature. A story of a beautiful young woman who marries a luckless and loutish country doctor, set in mid-1800s. She attempts to escape her narrow life through a series of passionate affairs. Her recklessness comes back to haunt her and she finds herself in a desperate fight for existence. Flaubert's depiction of adultery and sinfulness caused a national scandal when this book was first published in 1856. He was put on trial for offending public morality. Today it is considered a masterpiece of realist literature. Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880). 396 pages. 8.75" x 5.8". 1957, Random House, New York.