Quo Vadis [ Anne Rice's Personal Copy, Annotated and Signed ]

Henryk Sienkiewicz

New York: Hippocrene Books, 2002. First Hippocrene Hardcover Edition, Second Printing. Hardcover boards. Book Fine / Dust jacket Fine. Item #5325

A First Edition, Second Printing of this title, from the personal library of famed writer Anne Rice, now protected in an archival cover. Signed by Anne Rice on the front free endpaper: "Anne Rice/ March 10, 2003/ Mourning and Searching." An absolutely lovely copy; read and notated by Anne Rice. It was around this date that book 10 of the Vampire Chronicles was published, “Blood Canticle” in 2003, with Rice launching the first book in her “Christ the Lord” series in 2005.

The book itself is clean and tightly bound. A touch of shelf wear to the outer edges and some small bumping to the head/foot of the spine, else Fine. The dust jacket is complete and shows only the faintest signs of shelf wear.

This is an intimate read, as Anne Rice dated her signature on the FFEP as 2003, with 2002 being the year that she suffered the death of her husband, the writer and poet Stan Rice. Her notes (many with dates) and tabs are found throughout the entirety of the book, allowing the reader to follow her thoughts on the story of two star-crossed lovers, Ligia, a Christian slave, and Marcus Vinicius, a Roman patrician, set under Emperor Nero’s rule. Published on the eve of the 20th century in Poland, this historical novel earned the author Sienkiewicz the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1905. The narrative also follows the Apostles Peter and Paul.

A total of 19 yellow tabs, each marked with Rice’s notes or categorization, are attached throughout the book, along with markings, comments/notations, and underlined passages. Rice's tab categories include: Peter, Philosophy/Lore, Peter -- the Tomb, Peter after the resurrection, John’s disciple --Paul, Pagan Spectacle, Peter in the Crowd, Jesus during the FIRE, Christians blamed 12-14-6, Vinicius Baptized, Poppea a Jew?, Arena Martyrdom, The Arena -- Christians, Quo Vadis, Peter & Paul, Nazarius -- son of Miriam? 12-14-06, The fire underway, The chase -- riots 12-15-06. A final yellow tab is taped to the back of the dust jacket and labeled: Published after Ben Hur.

Also included is a long passage on the half-title page, written in Anne Rice’s impeccable penmanship over the course of two days (one note dated 12-14-06 and another dated 12-15-06), where she explores her response to the novel (please see photos for the full passage):

12-14-06
"Too gruesome, too laden with detail, and finally too distant. The horrible scenes are too much, as they were in the film."

There are additional notations in the margins on pages that spoke to or stood out to Rice, all dated (she seems to have had a habit of dating her notes and marginalia, a habit that now gives readers the opportunity to follow the evolution of her creative and spiritual thoughts).

Interestingly, Anne Rice appears to have signed the FFEP in 2003, whereas the notes in the text are dated 2006. Rice appears to have reviewed her books multiple times, dating and commenting across successive readings.

An absolutely lovely edition for a fan of the novel, a Nobel Prize collector, or an Anne Rice collector. We love the intimacy of these editions from Rice’s own library and find each one utterly unique.

Out of stock