WALKS IN ROME

First paperback edition, issued simultaneously with a limited edition hardback. Inscribed by the author to Richard Hollis, who designed the dustwrapper. Sewn binding. Original white card wrappers, in the dustwrapper. A fine copy, the binding square and firm, the contents clean throughout. Not price-clipped (£3.95 to the front flap). A nice association copy.

Inscribed by the author in blue ink, "For Richard Hollis / with congratulations / on the cover / F. T. Prince." Hollis, born in London in 1934, has enjoyed a varied career in the worlds of art, publishing, and academia. During the 1970s, he notably designed three books for John Berger (including the Booker-winning novel 'G' and 'Ways of Seeing') as well as catalogues for Bridget Riley, Lucien Freud, Howard Hodgkin, and Steve McQueen. 'Walks in Rome', Prince's final single volume is a form of autobiography in verse, the titular visit to the Italian capital prompting memories of a visit fifty years earlier, the poem suffused with the art, architecture and literature of the city. In his review in 'The Independent' (10 March, 1988), a copy of which is loosely laid into this copy, Peter Levi writes of the work that "[Prince's] style looks at first as thin as a cobweb, a verse version of the later Henry James, his thoughts seem to drift like thistledown, and yet his stanzas are memorable and stinging. [...] 'Walks in Rome' offers pleasures comparable to those of a late quartet. I greatly admire it."