Viva il Duce! : 23 MARZO 1919

1939. MORGAGNI, Manlio. Viva il Duce! 23 Marzo 1919. 226 leaves. Photographically illustrated throughout. Folio, bound in publisher's boards, in a new linen cloth folding box. Milano: Alfieri & Lacroix, 1939. This splendid Fascist photobook is massive hagiography of Mussolini, redeemed by its imaginative book design, which is in complete contrast to the banality of its subject. Much too heavy for its fragile binding, most copies were either destroyed or have fallen apart. There is some almost inevitable wear to the fragile binding, and there is an almost invisibly repaired tear on the title-page. A rare book with OCLC lists only copies at the NYPL and Navy Dept. in the US. (Inventory #: 166851)