Franklin Library leather edition of Ezra Pound's "Personae: A Draft of XXX Cantos," a Limited edition, Illustrated by Quentin Fiore, one of the 100 GREATEST MASTERPIECES OF AMERICAN LITERATURE series, published in 1981. Bound in a navy blue leather, the book has matching moire silk end leaves, a satin book marker, hubbed spine, acid-free paper, Symth-sewn binding, gold gilding on three edges---in near FINE condition.  Ezra Pound, who lived from 1885-1972, was born in IDAHO but grew up in Pennsylvania.  Pound studied at the University of Pennsylvania where he was friends with American poet, WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS, but he transferred to Hamilton College in New York state.  Pound later earned a Master of Arts degree at Penn, and received a one-year appointment as a Fellow in Romanics in 1906, and was able to afford to a brief visit to Europe.  Pound briefly taught at WABASH COLLEGE in Indiana before sailing for Europe in 1908.  Pound visited Gibraltar and Venice where he remained for three months and then settled in LONDON.  In 1914, he married an English lady, Dorothy Shakespear.  By 1920, Pound and his wife left London and settled in FRANCE, where he became friends with ERNEST HEMINGWAY, JAMES JOYCE, and T.S. ELIOT.  During WWII, Pound lived in RAPALLO, ITALY, and broadcast anti-American radio messages criticizing Franklin Roosevelt and the U.S. army  When the WW II ended in 1945, Pound was sixty-years old, but he was a arrested and imprisoned in Pisa, ITALY. In prison, Pound fenced and shadowboxed to maintain his health although he was forbidden to speak and was confined in a shelterless, six-foot-square cage. Eventually Pound broke down, becoming claustrophobic and paranoid.  Only then were the restrictions slightly relaxed and he was allowed paper and a typewritten and he began writing the Cantos.  In November 1945, Pound was flown to Washington, D.C. where he was indicted for treason.  After pleading "temporary insanity," he was committed to St. Elizabeth's Hospital where he remained for twelve years---with Robert Frost and Ernest Hemingway writing letters asking for his release.  When Pound was released he returned to Italy where he lived with his daughter, Maria, in the Italian Alps.  In 1949, Pound was awarded the BOLLINGEN PRIZE---the most prestigious national award---- for the "Pisan Cantos." Combined shipping is available.