Edith Wharton borrowed from her own experiences growing up as part of New York’s elite for her novels set in the upper reaches of Manhattan society. Her title, The Age of Innocence, and the story of a man trapped between desire and duty by the social conventions of his time, was a subtly ironic criticism of 1870s society. Perhaps too subtle for some. When The Age of Innocence was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1921, the committee praised its ‘wholesome atmosphere’ and “standard of American manners and manhood”.

Wharton’s story pits a careful and conventional woman, May Welland, against a free-spirited one, Countess Ellen Olenska, through the eyes of a man who doesn’t truly understand either of them.

This 1962 Signet paperback edition combines the novel’s mannered nostalgia with a hint of sixties design, setting the 19th century lovers against a decidedly 20th century symbol – a shocking crimson love heart.