The Path to the Nest of Spiders

First edition in English. Crown 8vo. 192pp. Black cloth, lettered in gilt to spine. Dust jacket artwork by Trevor Denning (priced at 12s. 6d. net to front flap).

Gilt to spine gently faded, previous ownership signature to f.f.e.p., bookplate of Cuthbert Rudyard Halsall with his crest and arms to front paste-down, light chipping to lower edge of upper d/w panel, a couple of short closed tears and a thin abrasion strip (not affecting text) to back panel, else Fine. Uncommon.

Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun. First published by Einaudi Editore, Turin, in 1947 under the title Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno.

Author's debut novel. Told in the first person, a coming-of-age story of "a gutter boy's search for an ideal among the Italian partisans." Inspired by the author's wartime experiences as a resistance fighter against the puppet Salò regime and the Axis powers, from which he emerged a committed anti-fascist intellectual. Winner of the inaugural Riccione Prize, its sales topped a surprising 5000 copies for a virtually unknown writer and kicked off Calvino's neorealist period. Honoured by the Légion d'Honneur in 1981. "Has the stark black-and-white quality of the classic Italian neo-realist films." –The New York Times