1924 Rare Book - THAIS (Life of Saint Thaïs of Egypt) by Anatole France bound by SANGORSKI & SUTCLIFFE.

Author: Anatole France. (Robert B. Douglas, translator).
Title: Thais.
Publisher: London, John Lane The Bodley Head Limited, 1924.
Language: Text in English.  
Size : 9 " X 6 ".
Pages: 243 pages.
Binding: Attractive, very beautiful, and very good half calf leather binding finely bounded by Sangorski and Sutcliffe (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed) under a protective mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, light foxing or staining - as shown).

The book: Rare book by Anatole France in such a nice binding!. Thaïs is a novel by French writer Anatole France, published in 1890. It is based on events in the life of Saint Thaïs of Egypt, a legendary convert to Christianity who is said to have lived in the 4th century. It was the inspiration for the opera of the same name by Jules Massenet. Paphnuce, an ascetic hermit of the Egyptian desert, journeys to Alexandria to find Thais, the libertine beauty whom he knew as a youth. Masquerading as a dandy, he is able to speak with her about eternity; surprisingly he succeeds in converting her to Christianity. Yet on their return to the desert, he becomes fascinated with her former life. She enters a convent to repent of her sins. He cannot forget the pull of her famous beauty and becomes confused about the values of life. Later, as she is dying and can only see heaven opening before her, he comes to her side and tells her that her faith is an illusion and that he loves her.

The author: Anatole France (16 April 1844 – 12 October 1924) was a French poet, journalist, and novelist with several best-sellers. Ironic and skeptical, he was considered in his day the ideal French man of letters. He was a member of the Académie française, and won the 1921 Nobel Prize in Literature "in recognition of his brilliant literary achievements, characterized as they are by a nobility of style, a profound human sympathy, grace, and a true Gallic temperament".
France is also widely believed to be the model for narrator Marcel's literary idol Bergotte in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time.

The binder: Sangorski & Sutcliffe is a firm of bookbinders established in London in 1901. It is considered to be one of the most important bookbinding companies of the 20th century, famous for its luxurious jeweled bindings that used real gold and precious stones in their book covers.