The Virgin Warrior. The Life and Death of Joan of Arc.

La fantastica vita e l'orribile morte del tribuno del popolo romano. Milano, Rusconi Ed. 1980, cm.14x22, pp.265, alcune tavv.bn.e col.ft. legatura editoriale con sopraccoperta figurata a colori. Coll.Le Vite.

Fur eine und mehrere singstimmen und klavier. Opus 74. London, Peters Editions s.d. cm.23x30,5, pp.49, brossura Coll.2394.

London, Hutchinson 1960, cm.15x23, pp.335, legatura editoriale in tutta tela rossa. Testo in inglese. Prima edizione. Few men lived lives larger than Serge Obolensky. Born to one of Imperial Russia’s great aristocratic families, Serge had an idyllic childhood growing up at a time when his country seemed poised for an economic boom at the start of the 20th century. Coming of age at the start of the most destructive period in human history, he served as a cavalry officer on the Eastern Front of the First World War. Then, as his nation collapsed into Bolshevik tyranny, he chose to stay and fight as a guerilla for the doomed White Army. Eventually forced into exile, Serge rubbed shoulders with the elite of European society, wandering through the height of the Roaring Twenties and eventually landing in America. Swearing absolute loyalty to his newly adopted home, Obolensky embarked on a series of adventures in the world of high culture, finance, and industry, witnessing firsthand the growth of America from regional hegemon to global superpower. On the outbreak of the Second World War, Obolensky volunteered for the special forces. There he trained experimental units, developed advanced combined arms tactics, and eventually became the oldest man to complete parachute jump school. His extreme courage and skill led him to be selected for a series of seemingly-impossible assignments: first securing the peaceful capture of Sardinia with only a three-man team and later preventing the destruction of Paris’s only electric power plant during the German retreat from France. All of these exploits and more are detailed in Obolensky’s memoirs, One Man in His Time, now available at an affordable price for the first time in decades.

Bari, Laterza Ed. 2009, cm.14x21, pp.XVIII,352, 79 figg.bn.e col.ft. brossura copertina figurata a colori. Collana Economica Laterza, 480. Avido di piacere non meno che di conoscenza, Raffaello Sanzio intuisce molto presto che soltanto nella Roma libera, felice e sfrenatamente sensuale di Giulio II e Leone X il suo talento potrà essere apprezzato. Vi arriva venticinquenne, la incarna e la seduce diventando nel giro di pochi mesi la stella più brillante del suo firmamento intellettuale. La morte, a soli 37 anni, lascia la città nella disperazione che segue la scomparsa di un principe ammirato e amato. In una biografia avvincente come un racconto, Antonio Forcellino ripercorre la fulminante parabola di Raffaello rileggendo i documenti e le testimonianze e interpretando le opere d'arte con l'occhio dell'esperto restauratore. In pagine straordinarie e finalmente libere da pregiudizi, Raffaello si svincola dalle censure che hanno tentato di addomesticarne il mito, e torna a essere uomo e artista.