Patria Mia

Chicago: Ralph Fletcher Seymour, 1950. Hardcover. Near Fine/Very Good. First edition. Boards a little splayed else near fine in a slightly spine-faded and rubbed, very good or better dustwrapper with some foxing at the flap folds, and the front flap professionally reinforced on the verso. Inscribed by Pound to Howard Gill, during the time that Pound was confined to St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, DC after World War II, with Pound's usual scrawl taking up most of the front fly, and with a slightly cryptic inscription: "Howard Gill from Ezra Pound. Remembering Piranesi." Essays on the future of art in America. Originally published serially in a London periodical in 1911, and intended to be published as a book in the U.S. The manuscript was revised by Pound in 1913 but thought lost until it resurfaced in 1950. Gill was a noted criminologist often accused of leniency towards his prisoners. He was the general administrator of the District of Columbia's prison system, and briefly had responsibility over Pound when he was transferred there, before his incarceration at St. Elizabeth's. Some evidence exists in Gill's papers that he was helpful in obtaining books for Pound while he was confined. Perhaps the reference to Piranesi, the great Italian architect, refers to such a book. *Patria Mia* was published by a small publisher while Pound was incarcerated and because of those circumstances, this is a title that is rarely found Inscribed by Pound. *Gallup A63*.