Italiani i Stranieri

1935. GARGANO, Francesco. Italiani i Stranieri alla Mostra della Rivoluzione Facista. 742 pp., illustrated throughout with photomontage and design elements. Folio, 327 x 230 mm., bound in Publisher's cloth-backed boards, with copper inlay on the front cover. Original illustrated wrappers bound in. Rome: Societa Anonima Imprese Editoriali, 1935. A spectacular and scarce example of fascist bookmaking. The design of this massive work is reminiscent of that of many of the Soviet books of the period. On the one hand there is the repeated use of pictures of Mussolini, and an attempt to show the massive power of the State. On the other it is counterbalanced (truncated) by what can only be seen as a subversive sense of design, involving the use extensive use of photomontage and an avant-garde sense of book design. 3561 of a numbered edition, signed by the author. OCLC lists only one copy, in Slovenia. Spine professionally refurbished. Grillo, Il Libro Fotografico Italiano 1931-1941. pp. 89-91. (Inventory #: 168952)