DIFFICULT LOVES: FIRST ENGLISH EDITION

First English edition. Hardcover in very good condition in black cloth titled in gilt to spine; other than some very minimal yellowing to free endpapers the text is crisp and clean throughout. Original dust jacket designed by Craig Dodd in overall good condition, a little faded to edges, small nick to spine tip; inside jacket flaps yellowed to tops. 250 pp.

Most of the 11 stories within ‘Difficult Loves’ appear for the first time in English within this edition. Also included are English translations of ‘Smog’ and ‘A Plunge into Real Estate’. Many contemporary readers might argue that Calvino’s work appears to value only the masculine experience but to many others these short stories seem as fresh and contemporary as though they could have been written today despite being set in 1940s and 1950s Italy. Laid into the book is a 1983 paper cutting which includes a review of the work, written by Sunday Times critic Peter Kemp and titled ‘Straining the Senses’.