War and Peace

London: Vizetelly & Co, 1886. First U.K. edition. Near Fine. The rare first UK edition of Tolstoy's masterpiece. Rebound in full blue crushed morocco by the Chelsea bindery. Top edges gilt, dark maroon end papers, front and rear cloth covers bound in at the end. Three octavo volumes, all dated 1886 on the title pages, collating: viii, 9-429; iv, 5-360, [32 p. publisher's catalogue, dated Sept. 1886]; iv, 5-387, [4 p. publisher's catalogue]; complete with all half-titles. A few spots of foxing on the early leaves, otherwise an excellent copy overall. Housed in a matching blue, lined slipcase. The first UK edition is notoriously rare on the market.

The author’s epic novel of the Napoleonic Wars, which gives them a human face through the poignant impact they have on several interrelated characters. A story of love and tradition amidst a crumbling society and a radically changing world. A novel brimming with enlightenment and modern theories. Virginia Woolf wrote: “There remains the greatest of all novelists—for what else can we call the author of War and Peace? ... Even in a translation we feel that we have been set on a mountain-top and had a telescope put into our hands. Everything is astonishingly clear and absolutely sharp.” Undoubtedly a masterpiece of world literature, and in our opinion, the greatest work from the Russian literary canon. Near Fine. (Inventory #: 6198)