'All the books published by a certain publisher could be seen as links in a single chain'

In this fascinating memoir and manifesto the author and publisher Roberto Calasso meditates on the art of book publishing. With his signature erudition and polemical flair, Calasso transcends Adelphi to look at the publishing industry as a whole, from the essential importance of graphics, jackets and cover flaps to the consequences of universal digitization. And he outlines what he describes as the 'most hazardous and ambitious' profile of what a publishing house 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 portraits.

From whether you can judge a book without its cover to a future of universal digitization, and from the most beautiful book ever printed to the elusive notion of quality, Calasso creates a vision of publishing as 'a literary work in itself, belonging to a genre all its own'.


About the Author
Roberto Calasso was born in Florence in 1941. An author and publisher, he began working at Adelphi Edizioni from its founding in 1962 and continued as director for fifty years. The Book of All Books is the tenth part of a series that began with The Ruin of Kasch and includes the international bestseller The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony as well as Ka, K., Tiepolo Pink, La Folie Baudelaire, Ardor, The Celestial Hunter and The Unnamable Present. He died in Milan in 2021.

Reviews
Written with passion, intelligence and not without a certain flair for a story, it's a treat for any bibliophile, a manifesto/memoir that proves he's a master of the art form he's arguing for * Independent *
What makes this slim text memorable is [Calasso's] sheer passion for books - not digital texts but physical objects, in which every part is designed to enhance the experience of reading. An important and timely book -- PD Smith * Guardian *



Book Information
ISBN 9780141978482
Author Roberto Calasso
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Penguin Books Ltd
Publisher Penguin Books Ltd
Weight(grams) 121g
Dimensions(mm) 181mm * 111mm * 12mm