'All the books published by a certain publisher could be seen as links in a sing
le chain'. In this fascinating memoir and manifesto the author and publisher Rob
erto Calasso meditates on the art of book publishing. With his signature eruditi
on and polemical flair, Calasso transcends Adelphi to look at the publishing ind
ustry as a whole, from the essential importance of graphics, jackets and cover f
laps to the consequences of universal digitization.
And he outlines what he d
escribes as the 'most hazardous and ambitious' profile of what a publishing hous
e can be: a book comprising many books, akin to that of other twentieth-century
publishers, from Giulio Einaudi to Roger Straus, of whom the book offers brief p
ortraits.
