Capri Dolce Vita Hardcover – 31 May 2019

Unfortunately the corners were damaged. Please could you deal with the issue and possibly replace the book as I really like it. Thanks

Assouline generally produce very beautiful books with high production values. Although the cloth and binding of the book are excellent, the paper is not of their usual highest standard and some of the printing could be better, particularly of the text, which is a little vague and not bold enough.Several of the captions in the caption index are correct -especially those regarding the physical location of Villa Lysis (it is not in Anacapri, nor is it on Monte Solaro, plus the picture said to show its gardens is actually a detail of the Augustan gardens some distance from the villa in the centre of Capri town -these are a few examples of this inaccuracy).Quite a number of the photographs feature in Assouline's previous book on the island 'In the Spirit of Capri' - which I suspected would be the case (as I work in the book trade this cynically inclines me to expect cost cutting by publishers). There are however, many pictures of the island I hadn't seen before.As usual in books on Capri, there is way too much emphasis on people and celebrities and none on the lesser known natural beauty spots of the island -Faro, Miglieri, Villa Jovis, Damecuta, Bagnio Tiberio, Cetrella...I could go on.If you are an ardent Capriphile and collector of books on the island - as I have been for a decade - and/or if you've spent weeks wandering Capri (again, as I have) - this will not blow you away. However, it is a very welcome coffee table addition to the Caprese library and a good first book for the neophyte.The best photobook of Capri is yet to be produced yet - what is needed is the eye of a landscape photographer who works with a panoramic camera (such pictures would best be reproduced in a landscape portrait hardcover - the volume discussed here is portrait aspect) with locations selected by someone who knows the island well to provide a more accurate, original and multi-faceted text. I'm up for it!Overall, very nice, but marred by the textual errors. Ciaio for now!