Marguerite Yourcenar. First American edition, first printing. New York: Farrar, Straus and Young, 1954. Both unclipped dust jacket and hardcover are in Very Good+ condition. Other than former owner's signature on flyleaf, no markings or writing found in the book, 313 pp. Translated from French by Grace Frick. Scarce and very collectible edition.
The award-winning work by the author was published first in France in 1951. A brilliant psychological novel, winner of the Prix Academe in France, which is also a meditation on history.
“Memoirs of Hadrian” is a philosophical and poetic historical novel written by Marguerite Yourcenar. First published in French in 1951 and translated into English in 1954, it is a fictional autobiography of the Roman Emperor Hadrian (76–138 AD), written in the form of a long letter to his successor and adopted grandson, Marcus Aurelius.
