Italian Villas and Their Gardens; Illustrated with Pictures by Maxfield Parrish

New York: The Century Co, 1904. First Edition, First Printing. Cloth. Near fine. The first edition of Italian Villas and Their Gardens by Edith Wharton, with exceptional gilt decor on the covers.. Quarto, xii, 270pp. Publisher's full green cloth, ornately decorated with gilt and colored floral illustrations. Gilt is exceptionally bright, both along spine and front cover. Stated "Published November, 1904" on copyright page with no additional printings listed. Lightly bumped corners, touch of wear to cloth, a near fine example. Complete with fifty-two illustrations, including a mix of color plates with captioned tissue guards, black and white plates with captioned tissue guards, and in-text illustrations. Born on January 24, 1862, into a wealthy New York family, Edith Wharton became a distinguished American novelist and short story writer. Breaking free from the societal norms of her privileged upbringing, Wharton explored the complexities of class, marriage, and morality in the Gilded Age through her acclaimed works such as The Age of Innocence and Ethan Frome. A prolific author, she was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1921 for her novel The Age of Innocence, solidifying her place as a literary pioneer in the early 20th century.