HARRIS, Robert. Pompeii. A Novel. London; Hutchinson. 2003. Signed

8vo.; publisher’s black cloth lettered gilt to spine, double-page pictorial map endpapers in red and black, in pictorial dustwrapper; pp. [xii], 3-341; a fine copy, without ownership inscription, in a very nearly fine, unclipped jacket (£17.99), with a very minor bruise to top edge at upper joint.

First edition, first printing, signed in ink by Robert Harris to the title-page. 

A well-received fictional take on the historic eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.  In essence a thriller following the activities of a young aqueduct engineer, Marcus Attilius Primus, who has been sent to repair the Aqua Augusta water supply near Pompeii during the days leading up to the great event.  The plot is woven around corruption and intrigue and successfully blends historical references, and meticulously researched detail, with an imagined personal story.