The Red and the Black (The Franklin Library)

496 pp. Red cloth binding with gilt decoration and gilt edges. Decorative endpapers. "...chronicles the attempts of a provincial young man to rise socially beyond his modest upbringing through a combination of talent, hard work, deception, and hypocrisy. He ultimately allows his passions to betray him. The title is taken to refer to the tension between the clerical (black) and secular (red)[4] interests of the protagonist, but this interpretation is but one of many.[5]"--Wikipedia