The binding is tight and straight, the clean boards have a couple of feint marks and the endpapers and pages are clean without marks, tears or inscriptions save a small brown mark to the first blank page, some rubbing in a couple of places that has thinned the paper slightly and a pen mark to the top edge. Barnes' uses the main character, a fan of Flaubert, to 'find' the real Flaubert, in conjunction with an effort to find his prized possession, a stuffed parrot. The Sense of an Ending in 2011 eventually saw him declared a Booker winner. Flaubert's Parrot, Julian Barnes, Jonathan Cape, 1984, Signed First Edition First Impression A signed first edition first impression of Barnes' first (of four) Booker nomination in very good condition and signed to the title page. ADDITIONAL PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. The futile attempts to find the real Flaubert mirrors Braithwaite's futile attempt to find his parrot. The novel provides three sequential chronologies of Flaubert's life: the first is optimistic (citing his successes, conquests, etc.), the second is negative (citing the deaths of his friends/lovers, his failures, illnesses etc.) and the third compiles quotations written by Flaubert in his journal at various points in his life. While trying to identify which is authentic, Braithwaite learns that Flaubert's parrot could be any one of fifty that had been held in the collection of the municipal museum.Although the narrative is mostly about tracking down the parrot, many chapters focus on Flaubert's life and one of the central themes throughout is subjectivism.

In the book, Barnes speaks through the amateur Flaubert expert, Geoffrey Braithwaite, presenting his musings on both Flaubert's and his own life, as he looks for a stuffed parrot that inspired the great author.Braithwaite, a widowed, retired English doctor, goes to France and, while visiting sites related to Flaubert, discovers two museums claiming to display the stuffed parrot which sat atop Flaubert's writing desk for a brief period while he wrote Un Coeur Simple. First American Edition.A Signed First American Edition with a laid in 'Compliments of the Author' CardSigned by Barnes on the title page and with the 'compliments of the author' card laid in.This brilliant novel was shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 1984 and won the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize the following year. 1 blank leaf with 'by the same author' on verso + half-title + TP + dedication page + Contents page + half-title + -190, Octavo.

Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes