Italy, by BECKFORD, William (1759-1844).

First edition. Two volumes, 8vo (210 x 130 mm), pp. [iv], xvi, 371; xv, [i], 381, [1], both volumes a little sprung in places, gathering B in Vol. I loose, cracking at gathering E in Vol. II, some foxing i text, in contemporary or slightly later quarter green calf over green marbled boards, spines gilt.

'Had it been published as intended in 1783, instead of as late as 1834 in a revised version under the title Italy, with Sketches of Spain and Portugal, it would have been hailed as an ice-breaker, preparing the way for the nineteenth century's stylistic eclecticism' (Timothy Mowl, William Beckford, Composing for Mozart, 1998, p. 92).

Chapman, Bibliography of William Beckford, p. 65.