FLAUBERT (Gustave). Madame Bovary. Mœurs de province. Paris : Michel Lévy, 1857. - 2 volumes in-18, 174 x 113 : (2 ff.), 232 pp. ; (2 ff.), pp. (233)-490. brown marbled half-bassane, spine ribbed and decorated, speckled edges (H. Lilie). First edition of one of the masterpieces of French literature. A copy with the characteristics of the first edition, notably the "t" to Sénard at the head of the epistle. It bears this autograph dispatch signed by the author on the false title of the first volume : to Me Motte // Hommage de son tout // dévoué // Gve FlaubertAglaé Motte (1803-1866) was the wife of Doctor Adolphe Motte (1794-1866) . According to Albert Mignot, in his biography of Ernest Chevalier: "Madame Motte was one of those women towards whom one feels irresistibly drawn. She was one of those rare natures, where egoism never found a place and whose active kindness does not shrink from any pain to cause some joy to the loved ones; essentially good soul, forgetting herself unceasingly to think only of her own, considering herself amply paid by a smile, happy with the happiness of the others ". He adds in a note: "In one of his letters, Gustave Flaubert, then a child, speaking of Madame Motte, said: 'It seems to me that I am beginning to have a crush on this good lady...'" (Albert Guimot, Ernest Chevalier. Biographical Notes. 1888, p. 16). Copy in an early 20th century binding signed by the Parisian bookbinder H. Lilie who did not keep the covers and the catalog. The dedication has been very slightly cut by the binder. Spines faded.