The Council of Egypt

SCIASCIA, Leonardo. Il Consiglio d'Egitto. Turin: Giulio Einaudi editore, 1963. First edition. 8vo, publisher's wrappers with original illustrated dust jacket depicting an eighteenth-century engraving. Historical novel set in Palermo in 1782, centered on the figure of Abbot Giuseppe Vella and his celebrated forgery of the 'Consiglio d'Egitto', a purported Arab-Norman codex. A fundamental work in Sciascia's oeuvre, it represents a meditation on the nature of power, falsehood, and historical truth. The dust jacket shows the customary wear of time but is complete and legible. Copy in good general condition, testimony to the first appearance of one of the most significant novels in Italian literature of the late twentieth century.