YOURCENAR, Marguerite. Memoirs of Hadrian. London, Secker & Warburg and The Book Society, 1953.
8vo. Original boards with illustrated dust-wrappers (not price-clipped), map endpapers; pp. 320; light marginal war to wrappers, otherwise very good.
First English edition. 'In her magnificent novel, Marguerite Yourcenor recreates the life and death of one of the great rulers of the ancient world. The Emperor Hadrian, aware his demise is imminent, writes a long valedictory letter to Marcus Aurelius, his future successor. The Emperor meditates on his past, describing his accession, military triumphs, love of poetry and music, and the philosophy that informed his powerful and far-flung rule. A work of superbly detailed research and sustained empathy, Memoirs of Hadrian captures the living spirit of the Emperor and of Ancient Rome' (Penguin Classics blurb).
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