Books and Manuscripts

Eco, Umberto
Il Nome della Rosa
(Milan): Bompiani, (1980). First edition. 8vo. 503, (11) pp. Signed by Eco on half-title. Publisher's red cloth, stamped in gilt; illustrated endpapers; small Societa Italiana degli Autori ed Editori Roma ticket on verso of title-page; slight foxing to endpapers; in original unclipped dust-jacket. Contursi A021a

Lot includes Postscript to The Name of the Rose (San Diego, etc., 1984). First American edition (Contursi A023b). Signed by Eco on title-page. Also includes Postille a Il Nome Della Rosa; Reprint (September 1984).

A fine signed first edition of Umberto Eco's debut and most celebrated novel, an historical murder mystery set in a 14th century Italian monastery. Since its publication in 1980 it has become one of the best-selling novels of all time, selling over 50 million copies worldwide. The winner of the Strega Prize in 1981 and the Prix Médicis étranger in 1982, it was adapted into a film in 1986 by Jean-Jacques Annaud, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.