The Key - first US edition

by Benito Kane Jaro - signed

Gaius Valerius Catullus, the greatest lyric poet of ancient Rome, is dead at the age of thirty. His father beseeches Catullus' friend, Marcus Caelius, saying, "Explain him to me." And so Caelius begins a journey through the vast interiors of the city to its underworld, its palaces, its law courts, its secret and bloody religious cults, in search of what was behind Catullus' life and his death.

Book has gray boards and is quarter bound with black cloth along the spine, title printed on spine in gold; publishers flaw: tiny gluing error at hinge of rear end paper, negligible. Signed and dated 1988 by the author on the half title page.

Jacket has wear at spine head, tiny flaw from price sticker removal on rear panel, price intact at $16.95.