Item #912 By the Ionian Sea. Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy. George Gissing.
Written with the Eye of a Novelist

By the Ionian Sea. Notes of a Ramble in Southern Italy.

London: Chapman and Hall, Ld. 1905. Item #912

8vo.  195 x 130 mm., [7 3/4 x 5 inches].  235 pp.  Illustrated with a folding map of Southern Italy and a few illustrations in the text.  Original green publisher's cloth,  title and decoration in gilt on cover; title and author on spine; spine somewhat faded, otherwise a nice copy in sound condition.

"New and Cheaper Edition/Illustrated", originally published by Chapman and Hall in 1901.  Beginning in Naples, Gissings account records his travels south to the toe of Italy and across the Strait of Messina on his way to Palermo.  Organized in eighteen chapters, Gissing text brims with an enthusiasm for the countryside and the ancient architecture of the place.  He is especially taken with the stark landscape that is juxtaposed with the blue water and sky of the Mediterranean and Ionian Seas.   But, as only the English are capable, Gissing evocative text is accented with the paternalistic view, which characterizes many of the Italians he met as clumsy, bumbling peasants, whether they be inn keepers, local musicians, teamsters, or farmers.  Although annoying this does not detract from the vivid prose that captures a very personal view of the south of Italy.  The text was reprinted many times in England and an American edition was published by Scribner’s in 1905
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Price: $75.00

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