London: Oxford University Press, 1935. Item #1459

8vo. 225 x 150 mm., [9 x 6 inches]. x + 227pp., including final Appendices: Bibliography, Notes, Index. Four black and white photographs within the text. Publishers' navy blue paper over boards with gilt lettering on the spine; unclipped jacket. Book is Near Fine: textblock is clean with inscription on the flyleaf. Corners are lightly bumped with a small indentation at the top of the back cover and some minor soiling on the pastedowns and along the top edge of the text. Jacket is Near Fine: some shelf soiling and abrasions at the head and foot of the spine and along the top edges. Signed on the dust jacket above the title by Ellery Sedgwick (1872-1960), editor of The Atlantic from 1908 to 1939.

First Edition. Dame Iris Margaret Origo, DBE (1902-1988) was an Anglo-American biographer and writer who dedicated considerable time to the rehabilitation of her agricultural estate, La Foce, in Tuscany and published a series of diaries reflecting on her time in Italy during the second World War. The present work, a biography of the Italian poet and philosopher Giacomo Leopardi, was her first and is noted for its sensitive and evocative portrayal of its subject.

The forward, by Spanish-American philosopher George Santayana (1863-1952), provides a rich narrative description of Leopardi's artistic merits and poetic abilities.

Price: $120.00