Scales of Gold - first US edition

by Dorothy Dunnett

Fourth novel in the eight novel Niccolo series. The year 1464 finds Nicholas back in Venice. Plagued by enemies bent on dissolving his assets and smearing his character, he sets sail for Africa, legendary location of the Fountain of Youth, home to a descendant of Sheba and Solomon, and the source of gold in such abundance that men prefer to barter in shells. He will learn firsthand the brutality and grandeur of the Dark Continent, from the horror of the slave trade to the austere nobility of Islamic Timbuktu. He will discover too the charms of the beautiful Gelis van Borselen--a woman whose passion for Nicholas is rivaled only by her desire to punish him for his role in her sister's death. Erotic, lush with detail, Scales of Gold embraces the complexity of the Renaissance, where mercantile adventure couples with more personal quests behind the silken curtains of the Age of Discovery; 519 pages. Maps on front and rear end papers.

Book is red boards with red cloth spine, gold-stamped lettering on spine and front boards, in very good condition with a like dust jacket. Beautiful dustjacket artwork by Kinuko Craft, marred on rear panel as usual by the obnoxious, ubiquitous bar code.