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. 

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.

The Sense of an Ending | Uncorrected Proof (Alfred A. Knopf, 2011)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. The Sense of an Ending. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011. Pp. 163 + [5]. 19 x 13.4 cm.

Covered in blue paper cover with provisional publication date of “11 October 2011” printed to front and promotional information printed to back. Stated first printing of 60,000 copies. Preliminary dust jacket design included as part of the bound proof.

Original publication was set for January 2012, but the October date was selected to capitalize on the novel’s inclusion on the short list for the Man Booker Prize, which it was later awarded.

Love, etc. | Uncorrected Proof (Knopf, 2001; Red Cover)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Love, etc. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. Pp. 224 + [8]. 21.2 x 14.4 cm.

Uncorrected Proof in red wraps with black lettering. Publication information and the statement, ‘THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED PROOF’ on bottom of upper panel. Title listed as, ‘Love, Etc.’ [full stop]. 

Alfred A. Knopf published two editions of the uncorrected proof for Julian Barnes’s novel Love, etc. The first proof was bound in red wraps, as pictured above, and appears to have been limited in its distribution. The more commonly distributed uncorrected proof features a paper cover that reproduces the colors and layout of the final hardback edition.

Love, etc. (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001)


Notes on this edition: First American edition – New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. $23.00.

Descriptive Bibliography: 

Title Page: LOVE, | etc. | JULIAN BARNES | [Knopf device] | ALFRED A. KNOPF | NEW YORK | 2001

Copyright Page: This Is a Borzoi Book | Published by Alfred A. Knopf | Copyright © 2000 by Julian Barnes | All rights reserved under International and Pan-American | Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by | Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc., New | York. Distributed by Random House, Inc., New York. | www.aaknopf.com | Originally published in Great Britain by Jonathan Cape | an imprint of Random House Group Limited, | London, in 2000. | Knopf, Borzoi Books, and the colophon are registered | trademarks of Random House, Inc. | Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data | Barnes, Julian. | Love, etc. / Julian Barnes.—1st American ed. | p.  cm. | ISBN 0-375-41161-5 (alk. paper) | 1. Triangles (Interpersonal relations)—Fiction.  2. London | (England)—Fiction.  3. Male friendship—Fiction.  I. Title. | PR6052.A6657L68 2001 | 823’.914—dc21  00-062013 | Manufactured in the United States of America | First American Edition

Collation: 21.2 x 14.2 cm. Untrimmed pages. Pp. [i-viii, 1-2] 3-227 [228-232]. [i]: blank. [ii]: ‘ALSO BY JULIAN BARNES | England, England | Cross Channel | Letters from London | The Porcupine | Talking It Over | A History of the World in 10½ Chapters | Staring at the Sun | Flaubert’s Parrot | Before She Met Me | Metroland’. [iii]: ‘LOVE, etc.’. [iv]: blank. [v]: title page. [vi]: copyright page. [vii]: ‘To Pat’. [viii]: blank. [1]: ‘LOVE, etc.’. [2]: blank. 3-227: text. [228]: blank. [229]: ‘A NOTE ON THE TYPE | This book was set in Monotype Dante, a typeface | designed by Giovanni Mardersteig (1892-1977). Con- | ceived as a private type for the Officina Bodoni in | Verona, Italy, Dante was originally cut only for hand | composition by Charles Malin, the famous Parisian | punch cutter, between 1946 and 1952. Its first use was in | an edition of Boccaccio’s Trattatello in laude di Dante | that appeared in 1954. The Monotype Corporation’s | version of Dante followed in 1957. Although modeled | on the Aldine type used for Pietro Cardinal Bembo’s | treatise De Aetna in 1495, Dante is a thoroughly modern | interpretation of the venerable face. | Composed by Creative Graphics, | Allentown, Pennsylvania | Printed and bound by R. R. Donnelley & Sons, | Harrisonburg, Virginia | Designed by Anthea Lingeman’. [230-232]: blank.

General description: Binding 21.9 x 14.9 cm. Red boards, black blocked on red board spine. White endpapers. Dust jacket in cream with white flaps. Lettering is black and red on upper panel and spine. Lower panel features large author photo with a quote from The Observer by Tim Adams in white lettering.  Jacket design by Carol Devine Carson. Photograph of the author by Jillian Edelstein.

Cross Channel | Uncorrected Proof (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Cross Channel. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Pp. 211 + [1]. 19.1 x 13.3 cm.

Uncorrected Proof of the U.S. edition of Cross Channel published by Alfred A. Knopf. Bound in cream paper wraps with black lettering. Publication information and the statement, ‘THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED PROOF’ on bottom of upper panel.

The publisher stapled three promotional items to the inside front cover, including two sheets of paper featuring review blurbs for Talking It OverFlaubert’s Parrot, and A History of the World in 10½ Chapters, and a sample dust jacket for the first U.S. edition, as pictured.

Cross Channel | Uncorrected Galley Proof (Alfred A. Knopf, 1996; Large Format)


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Cross Channel. Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. 27.9 x 21.5 cm.

Marked as an “Uncorrected Proof”, this galley proof of Julian Barnes’s Cross Channel was intended for in-house use and precedes the standard uncorrected proof normally issued to reviewers. The galley features a white paper cover with black lettering. Pages are reproduced two per sheet with each text line numbered, as pictured in the example images.

Note: Full inscription has been edited for privacy.

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


Notes on this edition: Julian Barnes. Flaubert’s Parrot. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1985. Pp. 190 + [2]. 21 x 13.5 cm.

Uncorrected Proof of the first U.S. edition of Julian Barnes’s novel Flaubert’s Parrot published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1985. Covered in green wraps with black lettering.

Presented here are two versions of the Knopf proof. The first copy was the top proof on the cart of text blocks upon which the cover color was written. The cover has the initials “P.C.” for “Press Copy” and the inside text block is marked “Press Copy Truck” with the cover color indicated as “Spring Green (114)”. This particular copy was acquired by the press operator prior to forwarding the remaining proof copies to the publisher for distribution to reviewers.

The second copy of this proof contains the provisional publication date of “March 8, 1985” with the “8” hand-written by the publisher. Stapled to the inside cover are two sheets of promotional material. This proof represents the typical state in which a copy would be forwarded to reviewers for consideration.

Also note that on one of the promotional sheets, the publisher corrected an error in which the main character of Flaubert’s Parrot, Geoffrey Braithwaite, was listed as “Charles Braithwaite”, suggesting a temporary blurring of the main male characters in Barnes’s novel and Gustave Flaubert’s Madame Bovary [i.e. Charles Bovary].