Books

First edition in English, first issue, of Tolstoy's tragic love story, following its publication in Russian in 1878. The translator, Nathan Haskell Dole, also produced Tolstoy's 20-volume Collected Works in 1899. Dole was a prolific translator in many languages and was a popular member of the Boston social and literary set alongside Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Julia Ward Howe. Contemporary critics immediately acknowledged its status as "one of the great novels of the world... Not even George Eliot paints with greater power the inexorableness of law. The happiness of the lovers at first is complete, but Anna is jealous and exacting from the very reason of the unstableness of her position, and the downward path is sure and terrible" (The Evening Star, 24 March 1886). This copy has all the points of first issue: sheets bulk to 35 mm, floral patterned endpapers, "13 Astor Place" on title page, no front adverts, and 5 pp. of rear adverts not listing Russian titles. Later issues have front and rear adverts listing Tolstoy and other Russian novelists, while later editions have no adverts, omit the "13 Astor Place" address, and are printed on thinner paper bulking closer to 25 mm. The first issue is known in several variant cloth colours, some with a larger Imperial eagle design to the front board, though these are taken to be variant states rather than points of issue. Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine and front cover lettered and ruled in gilt, device on front cover in gilt, floral patterned endpapers. Contemporary ownership inscription of one N. L. Deas, New York, on front pastedown and first blank. Lightly rubbed, shallow loss to spine ends, text unaffected, wear to corners, closed tear to head of front free endpaper and foot of title page, the latter discreetly repaired, contents clean. A very good copy. Line 39.

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.