And this is how the Florentine publisher Daniele Olschki introduces us to Dante's magical world on the occasion of the great poet's centenary, recalling that in reality this moment revives what is actually an annual event since 1889, the year in which the founder of the publishing house , Leo Olschki, opened his first magazine l'Alighieri.
"Not a year has passed since that date without our catalog being enriched with new volumes on the work of the great poet; I can cite only a few of the most important passages, frommonumental edition of the Divine Comedy, with proem by d'Annunzio of 1911, edition currently on display at the exhibition held at the Classense library which already saw the presentation in 1921 of the facsimile of the Landian Code of Comedy, published on the occasion of the honors for the sixth centenary; up to the new commentary on the Commedia, by Robert Hollander, released in 2011 one hundred years after the monumental edition and to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy, an occasion that earned us a long and welcome meeting at the Quirinale with President Napolitano. But our commitment to sharing the passion of the founder, who also died in exile, will not end with the year of celebrations, continuing to enrich the catalog with new research on our greatest poet.“
Therefore, new initiatives could not be missing for this important anniversary which, in addition to a re-evaluation of the studies and precious facsimiles present in our catalogue, will see in a few weeks the release of the issue of Italian Letters which inaugurates the year, entirely dedicated to studies danteschi.
The facsimile is also planned of the Aldine edition of the Commedia, created in 1502 by Aldo Manuzio for the first time in a pocket version. In addition, there is also a specimen from the Classense Library, part of the Dante collection of Leo Olschki, acquired by the library in 1905.
The publishing house also had the honor of the approval by the National Committee for the celebrations of Dante of a project on places of Dante's last exile, with writings by Alberto Manguel and images by Nicola Smerilli. The same Committee approved the project of the Divine Museum of Naples for the catalog of miniature works by Antonio Maria Esposito dedicated to Dante, a catalog that will be edited together with Silvia Corsi.
And finally, in December the exhibition and catalog of Claudio Sacchi's paintings will be inaugurated at the Academy of Drawing Arts in Florence, where Sacchi's painting will be confronted with the songs of Dante's Inferno, proposing an impressive interpretation of them.
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