Books

. Number 76 of 400 copies, signed by the artist in pencil on verso of half-title. This is a complex and masterful production from the famed Arion Press. Author Italo Calvino's (1923-1985) Invisible Cities was first published in Italy in 1972 as "Le citta invisibili," a surrealistic historical fantasy exploring the complex and exotic 55 fictitious cities visited by Marco Polo as he carries on a conversation with the emperor Kublai Khan describing his ever expanding and vast empire. Translated from the Italian and with a new introduction by William Weaver. In his introduction, Weaver describes his first meeting with Calvino in the early 1960s, a relationship that lasted until Calvino's death. At their first meeting Calvino asked Weaver if he would be willing to translate his new book. Weaver agreed to do this, taking a year to do so. At the end of his introduction, Weaver writes that perhaps there is a contradiction in the title of the book. "These cities may have been invisible to the sedentary emperor, bas as the tireless Marco Polo made him see the most remote places, so Calvino recreates them for us, and - no matter how distant - they are eminently, unforgettable visible. " With 12 illustrations by well known artist Wayne Thiebaud (1920 - 2021). "Wayne Thiebaud had the idea for drawings of cities that would be invisible until the reader took the action of turning the page. The concept involved printing his drawings on transparent sheets in different colors of inks." The types are Veronese for the text, handset and in Monotype composition by Mackenzie & Harris, and handset Twentieth Century for display. The drawings are printed on transparent sheets of mylar in different colors of inks, each matching the color of the following sheet underlying it and the number of the chapter on the preceding leaf, such that the images are revealed only when each transparent sheet is turned over and rests on the preceding leaf, allowing the text and images to be read together. The type on paper and the photopolymer plates for the drawings on mylar were printed by letterpress. The papers, both colored and white, are Tiziano, mould-made at the Fabriano mill in Italy. In a looseleaf binding with white covers and the title in black to front cover. The box housing the book is made of anodized aluminum, comprising a back cover, a lid in place of a front cover, and four U-posts that form a ring binding. The posts rise from the back cover through four slots in the front cover and are held in place by an aluminium rod locking pin that slips through the loops. In fine condition in a fine aluminum box with title and author printed on the spine. Measures 12 x 14 inches. 164 unnumbered pages.

Invisible Cities, written by Italo Calvino, is a novel that explores imagination and the imaginable through the descriptions of cities by the explorer Marco Polo. The book is framed as a conversation between Polo and the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan.