Description
The Leopard
The Leopard is a novel by Giuseppe di Lampedusa that chronicles the changes in Sicilian life and society during the Risorgimento. Published posthumously in 1958 by Feltrinelli, after two rejections by the leading Italian publishing houses Mondadori and Einaudi, it became the top-selling novel in Italian history and is considered one of the most important novels in modern Italian literature. In 1959, it won Italy’s highest award for fiction, the Strega Prize. In 2012, The Observer named it as one of ‘the 10 best historical novels’.
Despite being universally known in English as The Leopard, the original Italian title is Il Gattopardo, which refers to the serval, a much smaller animal. Although uncommon north of the Sahara Desert, one of the serval’s few North African ranges is quite near Lampedusa.
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About Giuseppe di Lampedusa
Giuseppe Tomasi, 11th Prince of Lampedusa, 12th Duke of Palma, (23 December 1896 – 23 July 1957), known as Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, was an Italian writer, nobleman, and the last Prince of Lampedusa. He is most famous for his only novel, Il Gattopardo (The Leopard, first published posthumously in 1958), which is set in his native Sicily during the Risorgimento.
He had long contemplated writing a historical novel based on his great-grandfather, Don Giulio Fabrizio Tomasi, another Prince of Lampedusa. But after the Lampedusa palace near Palermo was bombed and pillaged during the Allied invasion of Sicily, Tomasi sank into a lengthy depression. To combat his feelings he began to write Il Gattopardo.
Why buy The Leopard from Daker Books?
Daker Books is an independent bookshop in the village of Kibworth, south Leicestershire, specialising in rare and collectable treasures, signed copies, pre-loved and beautiful editions. We have a large collection of Folio Society books too. We pride ourselves on our friendly, professional service and place customer relations and environmental sustainability at the heart of business.
Come and meet the books in person in our cosy, newly-renovated bookshop, or we can mail out any orders under £150 within the UK for just £4.99 postage and packing, or for free on orders over £150. We can gladly post books out to anywhere overseas too; please see our Delivery Options for more details.
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Folio Society books
Daker Books wants to help its customers seek out second-hand books of the highest quality. To aid in this goal, we have identified that The Folio Society produces books that many of our regular visitors desire. For over 70 years, The Folio Society has published beautiful, illustrated editions of the world’s greatest books. They aim to produce unique books that are outstanding in both their literary content and physical form, and that will grace every bookshelf.
We currently have a large number of out-of-print Folio Society books and are increasing our stock all the time. Please check out our stock at the link below, and if you’re looking for something that we don’t have, we’d be delighted to source it for you.