Anna Karenina.

TOLSTOY, Leo. (Count Lyof N Tolstoi).

Item Number: 54002

New York: Thomas J. Crowell & Co., 1886.

First edition in English of this novel that is widely regarded as a pinnacle in realist fiction, which Tolstoy considered his first true novel. Octavo, original brown cloth, with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panel, floral endpapers, with four pages of ads at the rear. In near fine condition, with a small contemporary name to the half-title page. Translated by Nathan Haskell Dole. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Rare and desirable.

First issued serially in 1873; first published in book form in Moscow in 1878. Vladimir Nabokov called Anna Karenina "one of the greatest love stories in world literature." Matthew Arnold claimed it was not so much a work of art as "a piece of life." Set in imperial Russia, Anna Karenina is a rich and complex meditation on passionate love and disastrous infidelity. William Faulkner, described the novel as "the best ever written." It remains popular, as demonstrated by a 2007 Time poll of 125 contemporary authors in which Anna Karenina was voted the "greatest book ever written." Adapted to film numerous times, most recently in 2012 Joe Wright directed picture, based on the Tom Stoppard screenplay, starring Keira Knightley.