This book is titled "Venetian Life", by William D. Howells, the Authorized Edition published in Leipzig by Bernard Tauchnitz in 1883, it is the Second American edition, according to the Advertisement page, and it comes in a beautiful wood-carved binding with mother-of-pearl decorations. The book has an extraordinary cover, blank end-papers with gilt dentelles on the front paste-down, a frontis portrait of the author with a protective tissue guard, the title page, an Advertisement to the Second American Edition dated January 1, 1867, two pages of Contents, 388 pages of text, and a three-page Index at the rear. The first edition was published in 1866, according to Wikipedia, followed by the first American edition in New York by Hurd and Houghton in 1866. William Dean Howells (1837 - 1920) was an American realist author, literary critic, and playwright, nicknamed "The Dean of American Letters". He was particularly known for his tenure as editor of The Atlantic Monthly, as well as for his own prolific writings, including the Christmas story "Christmas Every Day" and the novels "The Rise of Silas Lapham" and "A Traveler from Altruria". Howells published a campaign biography of Lincoln and after the election was over, he was rewarded by being appointed as consul in Venice. He loved there for four years, and his time there sparked his writng this book, The book measures 6 5/8 x 4 7/8 in. wide, with clean pages and a tight binding. The wood carving on the front cover is missing a small piece, there's a small crack on the bottom border of the wood on the back side and a little lift of the carving on the back side, and probably a unique binding with the wood carving and mother-of-pearl decorations. #26 #7045