Roberto Calasso maintains that publishing is both a business and, at its best, an art. The author of highly regarded works of non-fiction, Calasso also owns a prestigious Italian publishing house, Adelphi Edition.
The Art of the Publisher is not a how-to book but an elegant set of essays that ponder the history of book publishing (he gives high honors to Italy’s contributions), the balance between art and accessibility in a commercial business and the artful (or not) choices that can be made for fonts, covers and cover flaps.
He is fortunate that his U.S. publisher, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is one of the few American houses to consistently adhere to his high standards.