TOMASI DI LAMPEDUSA GIUSEPPE: (1896-1957) Italian Writer, the last Prince of Lampedusa. A good presentation book signed and inscribed by Lampedusa, being an 8vo hardback edition of the philosophical novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche, French language edition (‘Ainsi parlait Zarathoustra’), translated by Henri Albert, thirty-second edition published by Mercure de France, Paris, 1917. The custom bound copy features a good, lengthy presentation inscription to the front free endpaper, signed by Lampedusa with his initials (‘G.T.’), n.p., n.d. (a line of text beneath the signature which may have contained these details is only partially visible and was evidently trimmed at the time of binding to create uniform pages). Lampedusa writes in Italian and dedicates the book to his close friend Guido Lajolo, with whom he served in the same regiment during World War I, remarking that the book is a painful one, written at the height of an acknowledged tenderness that is forced to transform itself into hardness ‘by someone so rich and with delicate blue flowers, but finding no one willing to pick them, he’s obliged to turn them into pungent roses or aggressive Scotch brooms’, further quoting a sentence from the book, in French, ‘I became a fighter in order for my hands to be free to bless’, and commenting ‘It is also the work of a sumptuous artist and a contemporary observer of the crowds in our grotesque democratic times’, before concluding ‘It is as such the work of someone who resembles me (as much as lions may resemble wild dogs) and therefore I hope this will endear him to you’. An extremely rare, wonderful presentation copy. Morocco bound and with a gilt stamped title to the spine, as well as Lajolo’s name (‘G. Lajolo’) at the base and with four raised bands. The front board is a little loose and the upper part of the spine is torn (just affecting the title) and semi-detached. Some age toning to the edges of the pages and light staining throughout. G