Chasing the Rose: An Adventure in the Venetian Countryside

Di Robilant, Andrea

ISBN 10: 030796292X / ISBN 13: 9780307962928

Published by Knopf, 2014

About this Item

Inscribed by the author. First US hardcover edition, published by Knopf, 2014. From the author of 'A Venetian Affair', a quest to find the history and origin of a rose from his family's estate. Inscribed on the title page, a photo of the inscription is included in the attached photos. 214 pages, 5" X 8-1/2". Illustrations by Nina Fuga. Dust jacket has been protected with a clear, removable cover. Front panel of the jacket has a faint stain just below the title, and an ink smudge at the fore edge side of the front panel - see photos. Very sturdy cloth covered boards, some mild spots of edge wear at the head and heel of the spine panel. Sewn binding is tight. No further writing besides the inscription. This copy is not a remainder, not a library discard copy. Attached photos are of the copy we have in our inventory.

Seller Inventory # 25-08409

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chasing the Rose: An Adventure in the Venetian Countryside
• Publisher: Knopf
• Publication Date: 2014
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 030796292X
• ISBN 13: 9780307962928
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Dimensions: 2.692W x 13.538H x 21.996D centimeters 2.692 centimeters width by 13.538 centimeters height by 21.996 centimeters depth
• Weight: 535 grams
• Signed: Inscribed by Author(s)
• Seller catalogs:
  • Gardening
  • Italy
  • France

About this title

Synopsis

From the author of the best-selling A Venetian Affair, here is the charming chronicle of his search for the identity of a mysterious old rose. Andrea di Robilant’s tale takes us back to the time of Josephine Bonaparte, as well as into some of the most delightful rose gardens in Italy today, brought to colorful life on the page in the watercolors of artist Nina Fuga.
 
In his 2008 biography of the Venetian lady Lucia Mocenigo (his great-great-great-great- grandmother), di Robilant described a pink rose that grows wild on the family’s former country estate, mentioning its light peach-and-raspberry scent. This passing detail led to an invitation for an audience with a local rose doyenne, Eleonora Garlant. She and other experts wondered if di Robilant’s unnamed rose could possibly be one of the long-lost China varieties that nineteenth-century European growers had cultivated but which have since disappeared. On the hunt for the identity of his anonymous yet quietly distinctive rose, Di Robilant finds himself captivated by roseophiles through time––from Lucia and her friend Josephine Bonaparte to the gifted Eleonora, whose garden of nearly fifteen hundred varieties of old roses is one of the most significant in Europe––and by the roses themselves, each of which has a tale to tell.

What starts out as a lighthearted quest becomes a meaningful journey as di Robilant contemplates the enduring beauty of what is passed down to us in a rose, through both the generosity of nature and the cultivating hand of human beings, who for centuries have embraced and extended the life of this mysterious flower.

About the Author

Andrea di Robilant was born in Italy and educated at Columbia University, where he specialized in international affairs. He is the author of A Venetian Affair, Lucia: A Venetian Life in the Age of Napoleon, and Irresistible North: From Venice to Greenland on the Trail of the Zen Brothers. He lives in Rome.