MORRIS, Jan ~ Trieste and the meaning of Nowhere. Inscribed by the author.

FIRST US EDITION. Simon and Schuster, New York: 2001

8vo., speckled white paper spine over mottled cream boards; lettered in gilt along backstrip; together in the gold and black printed dustwrapper ($23.00) showing two sepia photographs courtesy of the Musei di Storia ed Arte, Trieste, Italy and the Collection Viollet; map endpapers showing Trieste's Europe; decorative frontis device; outer edges untrimmed; THE BOOK a near-fine copy, just lightly pushed at spine ends; THE WRAPPER also near-fine, with just some minor shelf wear, darkening and creasing. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First US edition. This copy inscribed by the author in black ink to the title page: "Esther & Jenifer! With every kind wish Jan Morris 2002" Also loosely inserted is an advertisment bookmark for the American Indian Contemporary Arts Lecture Series, 1992. Jan Morris first visited Trieste, an Italian city bordering Slovenia, in 1945, when she was serving at the end of the Second World War in the 9th Queen's Royal Lancers. The current work is a homage to that city, tracing the modern history from what was the seaport of the Austro-Hungarian empire, through to the hardships of the Cold War, and her own development within that history, ending in 2001, when she was still visiting the city in her late 70s. Part history, part travelogue, Morris intersperses the chapters with stories of famous visitors, from James Joyce (who was inspired to write Ulysses in Trieste) to Sigmund Freud, describing the architecture, monuments and atmosphere in her characteristically lyrical style. With a 1999 poll reporting that 70 per cent of Italians did not know Trieste was in Italy at all, Morris paints a vivid portrait of this previously little-known location. The Guardian claimed that the book "throbs with love for the place. It is neither guide book, travel memoir, nor a chronological history but is a relaxing, reflective essay written from a personal perspective by someone who clearly knows the place well and is attuned to its history." Despite Morris proclaiming Trieste her 'final work', she did go on to publish two further travel books, A Writer's World: Travels 1950–2000 (released 2003) and Contact! A Book of Encounters (published 2010). Scarce signed as a US first.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine