[TOLSTOY, COUNT LEV NIKOLAYEVICH]. Anna Karenina. London: Walter Scott, n.d. [circa 1890].
Hardcover. First Walter Scott illustrated edition. Leather-bound. Octavo (185 x 120mm), pp. 769, (5). English translation by Nathan Haskell Dole. Illustrations by Paul Frenzeny. Handsomely bound in contemporary half morocco; spine with five raised bands, gilt banding and titles; boards with gilt ruled borders; top edge gilt; marbled boards, pastedowns and endpapers; half-title present; ten b&w illustrated plates including a frontispiece; glossary of Russian words and phrases to rear in double columns. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding secure, hinges tight, very slight rubbing to extremities, contents clean, insignificant minor spotting to endpapers.
Notes: This edition is preceded by the first edition in English published in the USA by Thomas Crowell (1886), the Vizetelly UK edition (1887) and the first Walter Scott edition published in two volumes (1889). Vizetelly published this work as part of his series 'Russian Novels' (1884-1888), which he produced cheaply to ensure a profit, but also to counter the risk of promoting the largely unknown Tolstoy in the UK. The Walter Scott edition was the first UK edition to be published with more care in its presentation, materials and book quality. This edition uses the same translation by Nathan Haskell Dole used in the first 1886 US edition by Thomas Crowell. Note that the title-page calls for six illustrations by Paul Frenzeny; however, this copy has 10 plates including frontispiece. William Faulkner, Nobel Prize laureate, believed "Anna Karenina" to be the best novel ever written. It has inspired countless adaptations, from theatre, film, radio, television and opera as the doomed love of Anna and Vronsky continues to fascinate readers to this day.
