FLAUBERT, Gustave. Madame Bovary. Mœurs de province. Paris: Michel Lévy frères. 1857.
Two vols, 8vo. Late 19th-century maroon morocco-backed marbled boards, publisher’s pale green printed wrappers bound in (backed), marbled endpapers, upper edges gilt, else untrimmed, green silk place markers, in a later cloth-lined and metallic paper-covered slipcase; pp I: [viii], [5]-232; II: [iv], [233]-490, including half-titles; original wrappers slightly soiled, spines very lightly sunned, but otherwise a very clean set; bookplate of L.-F. Doucet to front pastedown of vol. I, small oval bookplate of Charles Lormier to verso of front free endpaper of vol. I (see below).
First edition in book form, first issue, with the misspelling of the dedicatee’s name as “Senart” for Sénard.
Widely regarded as the quintessential masterpiece of realism and the work that firmly established the realist movement in European literature, Madame Bovary took Flaubert five years to complete. Subtitled Mœurs de province (“Provincial Customs”), the novel was first published in installments in the Revue de Paris between 1 October and 15 December 1856. Its publication provoked controversy, culminating in a trial where Flaubert faced charges of “offence to public and religious morality and to good morals”, brought by the French prosecutor Ernest Pinard. Defended by Antoine Sénard, Flaubert appeared before the court on 7 February 1857 and was ultimately acquitted. Madame Bovary became a bestseller following the trial, when it was published in April 1857 in two volumes by Michel Lévy frères.
Provenance: From the libraries of Norman collectors L.F. Doucet (1822-1884) and Charles Lormier (1825-1900). Lormier was a founding member of the Société des bibliophiles normands; the book was auctioned at the sale of his his library in Paris in June 1901 (lot 643).
See: Catalogue de la bibliothèque de feu M. Charles Lormier de Rouen. Première partie (Paris: Ém. Paul et fils et Guillemin, 1901).
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