This edition of Umberto Saba's first volume of poetry, published in 1911, is signed by Saba and inscribed to his fellow poet: "To Guido Mazzoni, I offer this first work of mine." Saba was a pseudonym adopted by Umberto Poli in 1910. He was to live a life of great creative effort and anguish - the latter suffered partly because of recurring mental illness, as a result of the persecution of Jews in Italy during the Fascist period. In 1929, when the Mussolini government's racial laws went into effect, he was forced to transfer the ownership of his printing business in Trieste to a good friend. During the war he went into hiding with his family in Florence and moved to Rome in 1945, then to his native Trieste in 1948. He died in 1957. His unique and beautiful poems are still widely acclaimed.