Description
First edition of Italian Backgrounds by Edith Wharton, with illustrations by E.C. Peixotto.
Large octavo, 214pp. Full green cloth, title in gilt on front cover and spine. Mosaic pattern in blue, yellow, and green on front cover. Stated “Published April, 1905” on copyright page. Solid text block, bumped corners, wear to cloth on back cover and edges of spine. Faint dampstain to fore edge, no impact to text or plates. A vibrant copy, complete with thirteen full-page plates with captioned tissue guards, including frontispiece.
Born on January 24, 1862, into a wealthy New York family, Edith Wharton became a distinguished American novelist and short story writer. Breaking free from the societal norms of her privileged upbringing, Wharton explored the complexities of class, marriage, and morality in the Gilded Age through her acclaimed works such as The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome. A prolific author, she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921 for her novel The Age of Innocence, solidifying her place as a literary pioneer in the early 20th century.
