(3) Easton Press Classic Books. This lot consists of three Easton Press classics, one copy of Madame Bovary and two copies of Brave New World. 

Size: (largest) 10 1/4 X 7 5/8 in. 

#6485 . 

Madame Bovary was written by Gustave Flaubert (1821 - 1880), a French  novelist who strove for realism in all his works, and he is known for his debut novel, Madam Bovary (1857), which was a controversial book because it was too realistic and depicted adultery in a frank way: it portrayed a woman engaging in multiple extramarital affairs, which was seen as scandalous and not conforming to social expectations of female behavior. The book was banned by the French government and Flaubert was put on trial for obscenity - he was acquitted and went on to become one of the most influential writers in French history. 

The book was first published in serial form in 1856 and in book form in 1857, and the Easton Press edition was published in 1978. It has five raised bands, gilt lettering and gilt decorations on the spine, gilt-ruled borders and gilt floral designs on the front and rear boards, silk moire endpapers, a half-title, a frontis drawing of Gustave Flaubert, then the title page, a Publisher’s Preface, a two-page Foreword, a four-page list of Engravings, 348 pages of text, it comes with the original satin ribbon page-marker, and all the edges are gilt. 

The book measures 10 1/4 x 6 7/8 inches wide and is in great condition, with a tight binding, clean pages and text, and clean engravings. 

There are two copies of Brave New World by Aldous Huxley (1894 - 1963), an English writer best known for his dystopian novel, Brave New World. Huxley depicts a future where people are dehumanized, and instead of finding happiness, they live in a society that is unfair, aggressive, and miserable - quite the opposite of utopian. It is filled with pessimistic satire and was a model for much of the dystopian science fiction that followed. 

The two copies both measure 10 1/4 x 7 5/8 inches wide and come with an avant-garde spine and covers, they have gilt lettering on the spine and covers, silk moire endpapers, a half-title, then a colored frontis drawing of Aldous Huxley, the title page, the copyright page says the book was first published in 1932 and this edition by Easton Press was published in 1978, it has a Publisher’s Preface, an Introduction by Ashley Montagu, a one-page list of Illustrations, the Author’s Foreword, 237 pages of text, they come with the original satin ribbon page-markers, and all the edges are gilt. The two books are in great condition, too, with tight bindings, clean pages and text, clean illustrations, and the gilt is bright. 

And for those who don’t know, the Easton Press was founded in 1975 and is based in Norwalk Connecticut, and it publishes premium leather bindings with 22 karat accents on the covers. The books are leather-bound reprints of classics, poetry, and art, they come with moire silk endpapers, satin ribbon page-markers, and they use acid-neutral paper to preserve the pages and text longer, and they are a step above many other reprint publishers. The books also hold their value because of the quality put into the books, and often times the books go up in value.