Empire.

Signed limited first edition of the fourth historical novel in the 'Narratives of Empire' series, privately printed exclusively for members of The Signed First Edition Society. Octavo, Smyth-sewn and bound in full top-grain leather specially processed for fine books by the Cromwell Leather Company with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in four compartments within raised bands, gilt decoration to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt, silk ribbon laid in, marbled endpapers, frontispiece portrait of Gore Vidal in a period setting by Mark Summers executed in an intricate scratchboard technique and specially commissioned by The Franklin Press for this first edition, illustrated with black and white photographs. Signed by the author on the front flyleaf. In fine condition.