Folio Society Published Works Number 3014
Morris, Jan - The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage
We buy and sell items like these, so please contact us if you have similar items for sale, and we will make you an offer if we are interested.
To check if we have this item, or similar items, in stock, please click the Check Stock link below. Alternatively, use the links on the left to search our large online database of items for sale, or to visit the rest of the site.
Check Stock
Morris, Jan - The Venetian Empire: A Sea Voyage (Published in by The Folio Society in 2014. A maritime voyage like no other with historian and travel writer Jan Morris, in this unique illustrated edition. Quarter-bound in cloth with Modigliani paper sides, printed with a wall carving of the Lion of St Mark. Blocked slipcase. Set in Bembo. 208 pages. Frontispiece and 24 pages of colour plates. 4-page colour fold-out map. Map endpapers. Book size: 10" x 6.75". Jan Morris's writing has always exuded infectious enthusiasm for her subjects, and never more so than when she writes about La Serenissima. In the late middle ages, the small city state of Venice gained unprecedented wealth and power through her maritime connections and as a by-product of the sack of Constantinople. Morris takes us on a journey through the modern-day places that were once part of Venice's sphere of influence, whether tiny Greek islands or glittering modern cities, to explore its lingering legacy. This is an affectionate account, part travelogue, part social and political history, brought to life with her trademark wry wit and remarkable eye for detail. Jan Morris has long had a passion for Venice. Here she traces the ebb and flow of Venetian power overseas, not only as a historian but also as a traveller. By ship, dhow and ferry, Morris visits the modern day cities and islands of Venice's former empire to immerse us in its sights and sounds. She sees Venetian frivolity in the decorated dovecotes of Tinos, hears echoes of Latin chants in Catholic monasteries on an Orthodox island, and among the coffee-smells and rumbling trucks of modern Istanbul senses a lingering trace of Venice. Mingling past and present, Morris introduces us to the flamboyant admiral Francesco Morosini who went into action accompanied by his cat, and to a modern scholar in Istanbul who visits Dandolo's grave daily - to spit upon it. The edition is introduced by Stella Tillyard, who delights in the company of Morris, calling it 'enchanting - incantevole, as the Italians say, which means singable as well as spellbinding and better captures the feel of her writing'. )
