The Book of Florence (Limited Deluxe Edition)

BEE, Harry & ACTON, Sir Harold. The Book of Florence. Rome: Editalia, 1973.

Large folio (40.5 x 33.5cm). Full leather binding with raised bands, spine richly gilt. Front cover with hammered bronze plate bearing the Florence coat of arms (the Florentine lily) in relief. Rear cover with five bronze knobs. Printed on heavy, handmade paper stock. Housed in cloth and illustrated paper slipcase. 242, [i: colophon] pp. Numerous reproduced engravings throughout, including three folding illustrations to the rear. Limited edition. Limited to 1,949 numbered copies, this being number 492. Part of Editalia's "Le Città d'Oro" (The Golden Cities) series of bibliophile city monographs; issued alongside a companion volume, Le Livre de Rome, presented by Gaston Palewski.

Sir Harold Acton CBE (1904–1994) was, across a long and distinguished literary career, one of the twentieth century's foremost English interpreters of Italian, and particularly Florentine, culture and history. A British writer and aesthete born and raised at Villa La Pietra outside Florence, Acton returned after wartime service to restore his childhood home and remained there, at the centre of the city's cultural life, for the remainder of his days. Acton's literary engagement with Florence spanned decades, encompassing works including The Last of the Medici (1930) and The Bourbons of Naples (1956), and he was knighted in 1974 for his services to literature and to Anglo-Italian cultural relations. On his death in 1994, he left Villa La Pietra to New York University, where it remains today as the university's Florence campus.

The Book of Florence, produced by the Rome-based publisher Editalia as part of its "Le Città d'Oro" series celebrating the great historic cities of Italy, brings together Acton's authoritative text with an extensive programme of reproduced historical engravings documenting Florence's architecture, art, and civic life across the centuries. The production of the book itself is wondrous: luxurious, heavy handmade paper, a full leather binding and, strikingly, a cover made from hammered bronze bearing the heraldic lily of Florence. The volume is housed in a richly illustrated slipcase.

Fine in near fine slipcase. Some shelf wear to slipcase outer surfaces. Volume in excellent order, some markings left my leather page marker to single pages. Otherwise, pristine throughout.

Please note: This is a large and heavy volume. Additional postage costs may apply. If so, we will contact you after purchase.

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Catalogue Number: HH000742