England, England | Uncorrected Proof (Jonathan Cape, 1998)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. England, England. London: Jonathan Cape, 1998. Pp. 270. 21.6 x 13.4 cm.

Uncorrected Proof of Julian Barnes’s novel England, England in colored card wraps with white lettering. ‘A JONATHAN CAPE UNCORRECTED PROOF’ along bottom of front cover. Publication information along bottom of back panel with a provisional publication date of 3 September 1998.

Une fille, qui danse | The Sense of an Ending (Mercure de France, 2013; French)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Une fille, qui danse. Paris: Mercure de France, 2013. Pp. 192 [193] + [13]. 20.5 x 14 cm. Translated by Jean-Pierre Aoustin. ISBN: 9782715232495. (French).

The French translation of Julian Barnes’s The Sense of an Ending features a red wrap-around band promoting his selection as the winner of the 2011 Man Booker Prize.

Flaubert’s Parrot (Vintage Books, 2009; “Vintage Barnes”)


Notes on this edition: Flaubert’s Parrot. London: Vintage Books, 2009. Pp. 190. 19.7 x 12.9 cm. ISBN: 9780099540588.

Vintage Book reissued their standard paperback edition of Flaubert’s Parrot as part of their “Vintage” author series. The front cover states in the upper-right corner “Vintage Barnes”.

Flaubert’s Parrot (Alfred A. Knopf, 1985; Paperback)


Notes about this edition: Flaubert’s Parrot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. Pp. 190. 21.2 x 14 cm. Paperbound with setting and cover illustration as in the first U.S. hardback edition.

This paperback edition of Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot appears nearly identical to the first edition hardback published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985. The title pages the copyright pages are identical, except that this paperback edition does not state “First American Edition” and does not include information about where the book was printed, as in the hardback edition. The ISBN listed on the copyright page is for the hardback edition. This paperback edition contains no marking indicating it is an American book club edition, but this is a likely explanation. 

Flaubertin papukaija | Flaubert’s Parrot (WSOY, 1994; Finnish)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubertin papukaija. Porvoo – Helsinki – Juva: WSOY, 1994. Pp. 277 [278] + [2]. 19.7 x 12.8 cm. Translated by Kristiina Drews. ISBN: 9510199176. (Finnish). 

התוכי של פלובר | Flaubert’s Parrot (Zmora-Bitan, 1987; Hebrew)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. התוכי של פלובר | Flaubert’s Parrot. Tel-Aviv: Zmora-Bitan, 1987. Pp. 188 + [4]. 21.5 x 14 cm. Translated by כרמית גיא. (Hebrew).

The Hebrew edition was republished in 2005.

Thirty-Seventh Antiquarian Book Fair 1996


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. “Introduction.” Thirty-Seventh Antiquarian Book Fair, 1996. London: Antiquarian Booksellers Association, 1996. Pp. 128. 23.5 x 16.9 cm.

In 1996, the Grosvenor House in London hosted the Antiquarian Booksellers Association’s Thirty-Seventh Antiquarian Book Fair, and Julian Barnes wrote the introduction to the fair catalog (pp. 5-7). His essay discusses book collecting and the idealistic notion of “completeness”.

Of the limited number of catalogs published for this occasion, one hundred were signed by Barnes at the end of his introduction. Each signed copy was numbered, as pictured.

플로베르의 앵무새 | Flaubert’s Parrot (Dong Yeun, 1995; Korean)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. 플로베르의 앵무새 | Flaubert’s Parrot Seoul: Dong Yeun Publishing, 1995. Pp. 329 + [5]. 22.3 x 15 cm. Translated by 신재실 [Chae-sil Sin]. ISBN: 8985467050. (Korean).

フロベールの鸚鵡 | Flaubert’s Parrot (Hakusui-Sha Limited, 1989; Japanese)


Notes on this edition: フロベールの鸚鵡 (Furobēru no ōmu) | Flaubert’s Parrot. Tokyo: Hakusui-Sha Limited, 1989. Pp. 293 + [3].  19.4 x 13.6 cm. Translated by Shozo Saito. ISBN: 4560044546. (Japanese). 

The Japanese translation of Julian Barnes’s Flaubert’s Parrot features a blue promotional wrap-around band. The binding also reproduces the parrot image from the dust jacket in white to the front board.

Flaubert’s Parrot (Alfred A. Knopf, 1985)


Notes on this edition: First American edition – New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. $13.95. 

Barnes’s third literary novel Flaubert’s Parrot was a great success in the U.K., thus ensuring hardback publication in the U.S. Riding the wave of the novel’s success, paperback editions of his previous two novels soon appeared on the market.

Peter Brooks of The New York Times ended his review of the novel with: “His book is a great success, humane and generous, full of insight and wit, rich and even prodigal in its verbal inventiveness: a book Flaubert would have scorned to write, a book well worth writing.”

On February 17, 1985 (shortly before publication of the novel), Barnes published his essay “The Follies of Writer Worship” in The New York Times. The essay is a non-fiction piece about the nature of writer worship, which is a theme underlying the narrator’s search for truth in the novel.

Descriptive Bibliography: 

Title Page: JULIAN BARNES | [double rule line] | Flaubert’s | Parrot | [Knopf device] | ALFRED A. KNOPF  New York  1985

Copyright Page: THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK | PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF, INC. | Copyright © 1984 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright | Conventions. Published in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, | Inc., New York. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. | Originally published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape, Ltd., London. | “Flaubert’s Parrot” was first published in the London Review of Books, | and “Emma Bovary’s Eyes” first appeared in an edited form, in Granta. | Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian.  Flaubert’s Parrot. | 1. Flaubert, Gustave, 1821-1880, in fiction, drama, | poetry, etc. 2. Parrots—Fiction. I. Title. | PR6052.A6657F56  1985  823’.914  84-48550 | ISBN 0-394-54272-X | Manufactured in the United States of America | FIRST AMERICAN EDITION | A NOTE ON THE TYPE | The text of this book was set in a digitized version of Bembo, a well- | known Monotype face. Named for Pietro Bembo, the celebrated | Renaissance writer and humanist scholar who was made a cardinal | and served as secretary to Pope Leo X, the original cutting of Bembo | was made by Francesco Griffo of Bologna only a few years after Co- | lumbus discovered America. | Sturdy, well-balanced, and finely proportioned, Bembo is a face of | rare beauty, extremely legible in all of its sizes. | Composed in Great Britain | Printed and bound by Fairfield Graphics, | Fairfield, Pennsylvania. | Binding design by Marysarah Quinn.

Collation: 21.2 x 14.3 cm. Untrimmed pages. Pp. [i-ii, 1-11] 12-22 [23] 24-37 [38] 39-48 [49] 50-65 [66] 67-73 [74] 75-81 [82] 83-106 [107] 108-114 [115] 116-125 [126] 127-136 [137] 138-152 [153] 154-159 [160] 161-170 [171] 172-179 [180] 181-190. [i]: blank. [ii]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME’. [1]: ‘Flaubert’s | Parrot’. [2]: blank. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Pat’. [6]: epigraph. [7]: [contents]. [8]: ‘Note | I am grateful to James Fenton and the Salamander Press for per- | mission to reprint the lines from ‘A German Requiem’ on page 115. | The translations in this book are by Geoffrey Braithwaite; though he | would have been lost without the impeccable example of Francis | Steegmuller. | J.B.’. [9]: ‘Flaubert’s | Parrot’. [10]: blank. [11]-190: text.

General description: Binding 22 x 15 cm. White boards, gold blocked on green spine. Gold stamped ‘JB’ on front board. White endpapers. Grey dust jacket lettered in red (title) and blue (author). Cover image ‘Félicité Sleeping with Parrot’ by David Hockney. Photograph of the author by Jerry Bauer located on back flap.