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.

El loro de Flaubert | Flaubert’s Parrot (Anagrama, 2009; Spanish)


Notes on this edition: El loro de Flaubert | Flaubert’s Parrot. Barcelona: Biblioteca Anagrama, 2009. Pp. 229 + [9]. 21.9 x 14.5 cm. Translated by Antonio Mauri. ISBN: 9788447364480. (Spanish).

Hardcover pictorial covers in gold.

O Papagaio de Flaubert | Flaubert’s Parrot (Quetzal Editores, 2010; Portuguese)


Notes for this edition: O Papagaio de Flaubert. Lisboa: Quetzal Editores, 2010. Pp. 238 + [2]. 23 x 15 cm. Translated by Ana Maria Amador with revisions by Carlos Pinheiro. (Portuguese – Portugal).

An earlier edition of this translations was published in 1988. O Papagaio de Flaubert. Lisboa: Círculo de Leitores (Quetzal Editores), 1988. Pp. 214 [1]. Translated by Ana Maria Amador.

Flaubert’in Papağanı | Flaubert’s Parrot (Ayrinti Yayinlari, 2001; Turkish)


Notes on this edition: Flaubert’in PapağanıFlaubert’s Parrot. Istanbul: Ayrıntı Yayinlari, 2001. Pp. 206 + [2]. 19.5 x 13.1 cm. Translated by Serdar Rifat Kırkoğlu. (Turkish).

An earlier edition of Julian Barnes’s novel was published in Turkey under the same title (Can Yayinlari, 1989).

Папагалът на Флобер | Flaubert’s Parrot (Narodna Kultura, 1990; Bulgarian)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Папагалът на Флобер | Flaubert’s Parrot. Sofia: Narodna Kultura, 1990. Pp. 251 [252] + [4]. 16 x 11.5 cm. Translated by Dimitrina Kondeva. (Bulgarian).

To support the Bulgarian translation of Flaubert’s Parrot, Barnes visited the country and later wrote about his experiences for the London Review of Books [Barnes, Julian. “Candles for the Living.” LRB, vol. 12, no. 22 (22 November 1990): 6-7.]

While in Bulgaria, Barnes met his translator Dimitrina Kondeva and they soon built a friendship. Barnes wrote to Kondeva for feedback and insights into a new novel he was writing, The Porcupine, which centered on a fictional country similar to Bulgaria.

Flaubert’s Parrot (McGraw-Hill, 1985)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubert’s Parrot. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1985. Pp. 216. 17.1 x 10.3 cm. ISBN: 0070037485. 

Following the critical success of Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot, McGraw-Hill published a series of small-format paperbacks to promote his backlist. After releasing Flaubert’s Parrot in paperback (1985), McGraw-Hill issued Barnes’s second novel Before She Met Me (1986), followed by Metroland (1987).

Flaubert’s Parrot | Talking It Over (QPD, 2000)


Notes about this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubert’s Parrot Talking It Over. London: Quality Paperbacks Direct, 2000. Pp. 498. 19.7 x 12.6 cm.

Quality Paperbacks Direct issued this “omnibus” edition of Julian Barnes’s novels Flaubert’s Parrot and Talking It Over in 2000, the same year Jonathan Cape released Love, etc, Barnes’s sequel to Talking It Over. The cover replicates artwork for Talking It Over, as the book likely sought to capitalize on the sequel’s release.

Barnes’s paperback rights were managed by Picador at the time of publication, as QPD notes on the copyright page. The book’s table of contents lists Flaubert’s Parrot as beginning on page ‘vii’ and Talking It Over on page 231.

Flaubert’s Parrot (Jonathan Cape, 1984)


Notes on this Edition: Published by Jonathan Cape in 1984, Barnes’s third literary novel Flaubert’s Parrot was shortlisted for the Booker Prize and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize. After being nominated for the Booker Prize, some copies of the first edition were issued with a red wrap-around band announcing the nomination.

Several errant dust jackets were produced that were slightly darker in tone. Some of these jackets were distributed with review copies, but the rest were pulped in favor of the corrected jacket. The darker toned jacket is featured below next to the corrected jacket to emphasize the tone differences.


Descriptive Bibliography: First edition – London: Jonathan Cape, 1984. £8.50. Print run: 3000.

Title Page: JULIAN BARNES | [double rule line] | Flaubert’s | Parrot | [Jonathan Cape device] | JONATHAN CAPE | THIRTY BEDFORD SQUARE LONDON

Copyright Page: First published 1984 | Copyright © by Julian Barnes 1984 | Jonathan Cape Ltd, 30 Bedford Square, London WC1B 3EL | British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data | Barnes, Julian | Flaubert’s Parrot. | I. Title | 823’.914[F]  PR6052.A6657 | ISBN 0-224-02222-9 | ‘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. | Printed in Great Britain by | Ebenezer Baylis and Son Limited | The Trinity Press, Worcester and London

Collation: 21.5 x 13.7 cm. Pp. [1-10] 11-190 [191-192]. [1]: ‘Flaubert’s | Parrot’. [2]: ‘by the same author | METROLAND | BEFORE SHE MET ME’. [3]: title page. [4]: copyright page. [5]: ‘To Pat’. [6]: blank. [7]: epigraph. [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]: [contents]. [10]: blank. 11-190: text. [191-192]: blank.

General description: Binding 22.2 x 14.5 cm. Green cloth boards, gold blocked on spine. White endpapers. White dust jacket lettered in black. Cover image ‘Félicité Sleeping with Parrot’ by David Hockney. Photograph of the author on back flap. A small number of copies were issued in a first-state dust jacket with a misprinted color illustration.