Lot 193

TOLSTOI, COUNT LYOF - [LEO TOLSTOY]

WAR AND PEACE

Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photography

Auction: 9 October 2019 at 12:00 BST

£4,500

Description

London: Vizetelly & Co., 1886 [but 1890?]. Seemingly a re-issue of the first UK edition of 1886, 8vo, original publisher's cloth, volume 1 comprising: volume title-page, [1], general title-page, [1], iii-vii, [1], 9-429, [1]; volume 2 comprising: [2 - being an advert leaf for Disenchantment and Viztelly & Co.'s one volume novels], volume title-page, [1], general title-page, [1], 5-360, [32, being Vizetelly & Co. adverts dated September 1886]; volume 3 comprising: volume title-page, [1], general title-page, [1], 5-387, [1], [4, comprising adverts for the second edition of Dosoevsky's works], cloth rubbed, shelf-lean

Footnote

Note: Apparently a re-issue of the first British edition of War and Peace. The first UK edition is tremendously scarce, and seldom found for sale. Rather intriguingly, the second volume of this apparent re-issue features an initial advertisement for F. Mabel Robinson's Disenchantment, a work not published until 1890 on a different paper from the rest of the work and other adverts, dated September 1886. It is possible that this leaf was added later, making this a true British first edition. However, the third volume also includes an advert for the second edition of Dostoevsky's Works published by Vizetelly. As the first edition was issued in 1887, it is likely that this is an unrecorded 1890 re-issue of the first edition. The first edition issue points are included in volume 1: Napoleon is referred to as the 'Antichrist', rather than 'Antechrist', Anna Paulovna Schérer is referred to by this name, and Prince Basil is also referred to as 'Prince Basil', rather than M. le Prince. Vizetelly & Co. are known to have re-issued their second and third editions of War and Peace.