Valentino: Una Grande Storia Italiana [Seller's Sample Edition. "Not for Sale" ; Number "0000" ]

Los Angeles: Taschen, 2007. Seller's sample edition. Hardcover. Lacks the original clamshell box and has some soiling and spotting to boards. Aside from small smudges and stains to boards, this is a tight and, overall, very good copy. However, being that it is a seller's sample copy, the title page clearly states "Not For Sale" and the stated limitation number is "0000". Additionally, pages 177- 369 have been intentionally left blank, making this a rather odd exemplar.. Large folio in white silk and cotton cloth backed boards; 733 p.: chiefly ill. (some col.); 48 cm. In English, French, German and Italian. "This luxurious limited-edition publication renders homage to Valentino's illustrious career via a copious selection of images from his archives, including drawings, magazine shoots, advertisements, portraits of Valentino, and documentary photographs; presented chronologically, the visual material is accompanied by a vast array of newspaper and magazine articles about Valentino throughout the years. Text also includes Vanity Fair writer Matt Tyrnauer's interviews with twenty of Valentino's closest collaborators and friends as well as an appreciation of Valentino by International Herald Tribune's fashion writer Suzy Menkes."-Publisher. The trade ediition was limited to 2,000 copies, each numbered and signed by Valentino Garavani. However this sample copy, which is unsigned, is decidedly more scarce, though we do not know to what extent, in that only a handful of such copies were presumably issued. **Shipping is extra and charged at cost. An extremely large and heavy item. Weighs almost 20 lbs before packing. Please contact us in advance ** Contents: Keeper of the couture flame / by Suzy Menkes -- The house of Valentino: an oral history / by Matt Tyrnauer and Matt Pressman -- La straordinaria storia di Valentino Garavani: the sixties -- Donne, basta pantaloni! the seventies -- Va-va vavoom! the eighties -- Rome: the dolce vita is back - the nineties -- Tutte le strade portano a Roma: the 21st century -- Valentino's world -- 45 years of style - drawings & dresses -- Translations. Fashion designers -- Italy -- Biography. Costume design -- Italy -- History -- 20th century.