Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina began serialization in The Russian Messenger in 1875.
The novel first appeared in the Russian literary magazine Russky Vestnik, usually translated as The Russian Messenger. Its publication ran from 1875 to 1877, although the final installment was not printed there because of a dispute between Tolstoy and the editor, Mikhail Katkov.
Anna Karenina was published in book form in 1878 after its magazine appearance. The novel follows Anna’s destructive relationship with Count Alexei Vronsky alongside Konstantin Levin’s search for a meaningful life. Tolstoy deliberately set these contrasting stories within Russian aristocratic and rural society.
A common mix-up is to confuse the start of serialization in 1875 with the year of the complete book edition, 1878. The first installment also appeared under a title-page epigraph from the biblical Book of Romans.