Madame Bovary. by FLAUBERT, Gustave - 1886: Provincial Manners. Translation from the French Édition définitive by Eleanor Marx-Aveling.

London: Vizetelly & Co.,, 1886. Handsomely bound copy of Flaubert's masterpiece First edition in English of Flaubert's masterpiece. The translator was Karl Marx's daughter, then living openly with Edward Bibbens Aveling, a married man whose name she used in conjunction with her own.
Flaubert's debut novel was five years in the making, and originally serialized in the Revue de Paris. It provoked charges of obscenity and immorality from the French government, resulting in a trial at which Flaubert was acquitted. The ensuing publicity also ensured that upon publication the book became a bestseller. The heroine of the novel, Emma Bovary, ultimately commits suicide by swallowing arsenic - a fate which also befell her translator, Eleanor Marx-Aveling. Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in dark green morocco, titles and centre tool to spine gilt, single rule to boards gilt, inner dentelles gilt, burgundy endpapers, gilt edges. Frontispiece with tissue guard and 5 plates. The occasional minor blemish but overall in excellent condition and in a fine binding.