Thornton Wilder Signed, Presentation to Elsa Schiaparelli
[Signed, Presentation to Elsa Schiaparelli] Wilder, Thornton. The Ides of March. First English Edition. 1948. Book and dust jacket are both in very good condition. Book is warmly inscribed, “Schiap from Thornton, with all his regard—Christmas, 1948, Paris.”
This historical novel from Pulitzer Prize-winning author Thornton Wilder concerns Julius Caesar in the last years of his life. It is told in epistolary form, from the perspectives of Cicero, Cleopatra, Catullus, and other historical figures. While this book is ostensibly about Ancient Rome, Wilder was fascinated by the parallels between Julius Caesar and Benito Mussolini, and made that a theme here. He even dedicated the book to an anti-fascist Italian writer, Lauro De Bosis. [The recipient of this copy—Elsa Schiaparelli—was also an Italian who disliked Mussolini.]
“Imprisonment of the body is bitter; imprisonment of the mind is worse”
--Thornton Wilder