VENICE - Pure City.

UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1.] FINE/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip (£25.00) to dw/dj. Bright,crisp,clean,matt,b/w+colour montage'd artwork illustrated dw/dj, with gilt,brown+black lettering; with negligible shelf-wear and creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Majority of any light creasing to top edges of dw/dj,head of spine/backstrip of same, minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean - near pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,generally sharp-cornered,publisher's original plain pale grey cloth bds with bright,crisp,stamped gilt letters to spine/backstrip,a yellow headband and immaculate contemporary medieval artwork colour illustrated eps.UK,8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn,4- 403pp [paginated] includes Pts I-XI - each with a b/w line illustration headpiece,comprising 37 chapters in total,32pp contemporary & medieval colour+b/w reproduction illustrations in 4 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp52/3,pp116/7,pp276/7 and pp340/1 respectively,a Venetian chronology,a biblio and an index,plus [unpaginated] half-title+ title pages,a dedication with acknowledgements to it's recto,contents list/table,illustrations list/table with a b/w city map to it's recto,and b/w line illustrated Part separator pages. In this sumptuous vision of Venice,Peter Ackroyd turns his unparalleled skill at evoking place from London and the River Thames to Italy and the city of myth,mystery and beauty,set like a jewel in its glistening lagoon.His account is at once romantic and packed with facts,conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals,bridges and sunlit squares,the churches and the markets,the fiestas and the flowers.He leads us through the history of the city,from the first refugees arriving in the mists of the lagoon in the 4thC to the rise of a great mercantile state and trading empire,the wars against Napoleon and the tourist invasions of today.Everything is here: the merchants on the Rialto and the Jews in the ghetto; the mosaics of St Mark's and the glass-blowers of Murano; the carnival masks and the sad colonies of lepers; the doges and the destitute,and the artists with their passion for colour and form - Bellini, Titian,Tintoretto,Tiepolo. There are wars and sieges,scandals and seductions,and crowds thronging the markets,but always with a dark undertone of shadowy corners,dead ends,prisons and punishment The language and way of thinking of the Venetian sets them aside from the rest of Italy.They are an island people,linked to the sea and the tides rather than to the land.This book,like a magic gondola, transports its readers to that sensual,surprising realm.We could have no better guide - reading Ackroyd's 'Venice' is,in itself,a glorious journey to the ultimate city, glittering,evocative and forever fascinating. Want more Peter Ackroyd titles? Please check either my SIGNED, BIOGRAPHY,MODERN FIRSTS2,1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die. and GENERAL catalogues for other and similar,SIGNED and unsigned titles. Since April 2013,and again in March 2015,and again in 2016 too,the UK Post Office has altered it's Pricing in Proportion template,altering its prices,weight allowances,dimensions and lowered its qualifying compensation rates too! So,please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the value of this item,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page!