Leigh Fermor, Patrick.

A Time of Gifts.

New York: Harper & Row, 1977. First American edition of the author's masterpiece, which ranks among the greatest travel books of the twentieth century. Octavo, original half cloth. Signed by the author on the title page. Near fine in a very good dust jacket that shows some rubbing to the extremities.

At the age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off from the heart of London on an epic journey—to walk to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the rich account of his adventures as far as Hungary, after which Between the Woods and the Water continues the story to the Iron Gates that divide the Carpathian and Balkan mountains. Jan Morris called it "[n]othing short of a masterpiece." "Rightly considered to be among the most beautiful travel books in the language" (Independent). "[Patrick Leigh Fermor] stands beside Robert Byron as the finest travel writer of his generation" (Colin Thubron).

Item #2579