The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert (1910 – Greening & Co.)
The Temptation of Saint Anthony – Gustave Flaubert (1910 – Greening & Co.)
This Greening & Co. edition (1910) is of interest to collectors of Gustave Flaubert, 19th century French literature in translation, and Symbolist and Decadent movement titles.
About: A good copy in the striking violet-purple cloth with gilt lettering to front board and spine, Art Nouveau embossed decoration to boards. Spine somewhat faded and rubbed at extremities; cloth to boards retains vivid colour; binding firm; frontispiece portrait of Flaubert present; text block clean throughout. A handsome example of an Edwardian illustrated edition.
Details:
- Title: The Temptation of Saint Anthony
- Author: Gustave Flaubert
- Translator: C. J. Monkshood
- Publisher: Greening & Co. Ltd., London
- Publication Date: 1910
- Binding: Hardcover – violet cloth, gilt lettering, Art Nouveau embossed boards
- Illustrator: Frontispiece portrait of Gustave Flaubert
- Condition: Good+
Synopsis: Greening & Co. Edwardian edition, original violet cloth with gilt and embossed decoration, frontispiece portrait, collectible Flaubert title desirable for bibliophiles and collectors of French literature in translation.
Review: Gustave Flaubert's The Temptation of Saint Anthony (first published 1874) is a visionary prose poem in dramatic form, depicting the hermit Saint Anthony beset through the night by a succession of hallucinations — heresies, false gods, philosophical temptations, and the spectacle of all creation. Flaubert's most personal and ambitious work, it draws on decades of research and reflects his lifelong fascination with religious ecstasy, the nature of desire, and the limits of human knowledge.