4to. [1], 483 pp., [1], half title, Italian text, contemporary cloth backed boards, slightly rubbed round edges, speckled edges, marbled endpapers, indices, occasional spotting, pencil signature on title page, otherwise copy in good condition, Fratelli Treves, Editori, 1879.

Synopsis

Edmondo De Amicis (1846 – 1908) was an Italian novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer. Born in Oneglia (today part of the city of Imperia), he went to military school in Modena, and became an Army officer in the new Kingdom of Italy. De Amicis fought in the battle of Custoza during the Third Independence War, a defeat of Savoy forces against the Austrian Empire; the spectacle left him disappointed, and contributed to his later decision to leave military life.
In Florence, he wrote his first sketches dealing with his frontline experience, collected as La vita militare (“Military Life”, 1868), and first published by the journal of the Ministry of Defense, L’Italia Militare. In 1870, he joined the staff of the journal La Nazione in Rome, and his correspondence at the time later served as base for his travel writings: Spagna (1873), Olanda (1874), Ricordi di Londra (1874), Marocco (1876), Costantinopoli (1878), Ricordi di Parigi (1879). A new edition of Costantinopoli, considered by many his masterpiece and the best description of the city in the 19th century, was published in 2005, with a foreword by Umberto Eco.