About the book: 2017 / The book by Roberto Calasso (born 1941), an Italian prose writer and translator, one of the founders and long-term director of the famous Milanese publishing house Adelphi, contains essays about publishing - a special art that flourished in the 20th century, and is now in danger of extinction. The author shares his thoughts on the essence and fate of this art, recalls the outstanding publishers with whom he had the opportunity to be acquainted, talks about the path of his publishing house - one of the brightest in Europe over the last fifty years.