The Name of the Rose. - 1980

New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1980. First edition of one of the best-selling books of all-time, basis for the film starring Sean Connery. Octavo, original cloth. Translated from the Italian by William Weaver. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, "a Charlie Winick Umberto Ecco 16 June 83." The recipient, Charles Winick, was an American author, psychologist, professor of anthropology and sociology, and academic, noted for his work in the fields of gender, drug addiction, and prostitution. After serving in Military Intelligence during World War II, he was a professor of sociology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and the City College of New York, taught at Columbia University, and was the author of more than 40 books, including The New People: Desexualization in American Life, published in 1969, in which he contended that American society was "following the path of Ancient Greece and Rome" by gradually becoming a "neutered society." His writings also highlighted the sexualization and gender roles presented to children in advertising and popular culture, including criticizing Barbie dolls in a 1964 article, which was an unpopular observation at the time. Near fine in a near fine price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket illustration from a manuscript of the Apocalypse. An exceptional association. This “erudite murder mystery,” first published in 1980 as Il Nome della Rosa, was semiotics professor Umberto Eco’s first novel and proved an international bestseller. Critically praised as a “brilliantly conceived adventure into another time” (SF Chronicle), the novel “encapsulates Eco’s semiotic theory, which describes how signs are produced and interpreted in the world. The novel presents clues for the reader to decode, but as the reader grapples with the novel’s deeper meanings, the mystery becomes secondary” (Columbia University Press). “An extraordinary work of novelistic art” (Harper’s). It has went on to sell over 50 million copies worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling books ever published. It has received many international awards and accolades, such as the Strega Prize in 1981 and Prix Medicis Étranger in 1982, and was ranked 14th on Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century list.