Voyage en Italie.: Tome I: Naples et Rome; Tome II: Florence et Venice.

Paris: Libraire de l. Hachette et Cie,, 1866. First edition of Taine's travelogue of his visit to Italy in 1864. "Taine had not only prepared his trip by extensive reading about Italian history and art, he also spent long hours in the libraries after his return before turning his journal notes into a book. Still, he maintained the style of immediate descriptions and delivered his historical explanations as the instantaneous reflections he had during his visits of cities, museums and churches. By characterizing and presenting his study as untouched thought he followed the genre of travel descriptions" (Feest, p. 95). Provenance: with the bookplate to the front pastedowns of Noel Pinelli (1881-1970), the minister of the merchant navy under the Vichy regime and a strong supporter of Marshal Pétain. His slip of handwritten notes on the edition is tipped in following the front free endpaper of vol. I, as with other books from his library. Two volumes, octavo (213 x 133 mm). Contemporary purple quarter morocco, spines lettered in gilt, mottled sides, marbled endpapers, edges speckled brown. Slight wear at extremities, slight spotting to edges and very occasionally to contents. A very good copy. Uljana Feest, Historical Perspectives on Erklären and Verstehen, 2010.