# Is "Madame Bovary" by Gustave Flaubert a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert (Michel Lévy frères, Paris, 1857) is identified by: Two volumes, Michel Lévy frères, Paris, 1857, issued in printed wrappers (green). The French original is the true first — the census claim is correct.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Two volumes, Michel Lévy frères, Paris, 1857, issued in printed wrappers (green)
- The first-issue point is on the dedication leaf: Flaubert's defence counsel is misprinted "Senart" for "Sénard"; the later issue corrects the spelling
- Complete copies collate [iv], 232 and [iv], [233]-490, with half-titles and title pages to both volumes and the publisher's catalogue bound at the rear of volume I. Deluxe copies on heavy vellum paper are a separate format: they are in a single volume, without title page or half-title for the second part (Clouzot counts 75 such copies)
- Publisher imprint reads Michel Lévy frères, Paris
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gustave Flaubert |
| Publisher | Michel Lévy frères, Paris |
| Year | 1857 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Two volumes, Michel Lévy frères, Paris, 1857, issued in printed wrappers (green) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Two volumes, Michel Lévy frères, Paris, 1857, issued in printed wrappers (green). The first-issue point is on the dedication leaf: Flaubert's defence counsel is misprinted "Senart" for "Sénard"; the later issue corrects the spelling. Complete copies collate [iv], 232 and [iv], [233]-490, with half-titles and title pages to both volumes and the publisher's catalogue bound at the rear of volume I. Deluxe copies on heavy vellum paper are a separate format: they are in a single volume, without title page or half-title for the second part (Clouzot counts 75 such copies).

## Is this the true first?
The French original is the true first — the census claim is correct. The novel was serialised in the Revue de Paris from 1 October to 15 December 1856, ahead of the Lévy book, but the serial is a periodical appearance and does not displace the 1857 two-volume first edition. The first edition in English is Eleanor Marx-Aveling's translation, Madame Bovary: Provincial Manners (London: Vizetelly & Co., 1886) — the first English translation to appear and the only one for many years; it is collected in its own right.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue in the period. The traps are "first thus": Lévy reissues with the dedication corrected to "Sénard"; the many later illustrated and "édition définitive" printings; and the 1886 Vizetelly translation catalogued as "first edition" when it is the first English, not the first. Modern reprints of the Marx-Aveling translation are everywhere.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Madame Bovary* by Gustave Flaubert a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/madame-bovary
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.