Books

New edition, publisher's 'Presentation Copy' (discretely blind stamped to title-pages), complete in two volumes, leather-bound, hardcover, royal octavo (22.5cm x 15.5cm), pp. [8], 493; [6], 426. English text, translated from the Russian by Constance Garnett. Finely bound in half crushed morocco by Bayntun Riviere (their ink pallet to front endpapers), gilt ruled and tooled covers, top edge gilt, fore edge and bottom edge unevenly cut, marbled endpapers, half-titles, portrait frontispieces with original tissue-guards, title-pages printed in red and black. Printed by T. and A. Constable. Condition: NEAR FINE. Bindings tight and secure with the hinges and joints perfectly intact, couple of very minor faint marks to covers. Trivial spots to fore edge, else fresh and clean, without previous ownership markings; an exquisite copy and scarce thus.

Anna Karenina is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in book form in 1878. Many authors consider Anna Karenina the greatest work of literature ever written, and Tolstoy himself called it his first true novel. It deals with themes of betrayal, faith, family, marriage, Imperial Russian society, desire, and rural vs. city life. The complex novel unfolds against the backdrop of 19th-century Russian high society and tells the tragic story of a married aristocrat and her affair with the affluent Count Vronsky. The novel explores a diverse range of topics throughout its pages and profoundly influences the genres of realist and romantic fiction.