Tolstoy (Count Lev Nikolayevich "Leo") Анна Каренина [Anna Karenina], 3 vol., first edition in book form, without final blanks, bookplate of Albert McGill, Russian ink ownership stamp to head of titles, vol. 2 title with small stain to inner-margin, vol. 1 p.215 tear to fore-margin, vol. 3 p.49 tear into text but no loss, faint damp-staining to blank upper corner of first few leaves vol. 1 & upper-margin towards end vol. 2, the odd small stain elsewhere, foxing, contemporary blue half calf, spines titled in Russian in gilt but faded, few light stains, rubbed at extremities, 8vo, Moscow, T. Ris., 1878.

*** The first edition of the complete text of Tolstoy's masterpiece, beloved of Dostoevsky ("as art it is perfection") and Thomas Mann ("without equal in European literature"). While the novel was serialised from 1875-77 in the conservative Russian periodical Russkiy Vestnik, the eighth and final part was deemed unpatriotic and refused to be printed. For book publication, Tolstoy restored the conclusion and significantly revised the text with the aid of his close friend Nikolay Strakhov.