Numbers in the Dark and Other Stories

First edition in English. 8vo. Pp. [vi], 276, [6 (blank)]. Black cloth boards, stamped in gilt to spine. Editor's Note. Jacket design by Tracey Winwood with photography by Jeff Cottenden.

Translated by Tim Parks with a preface by Esther Calvino. Originally published in 1993 as Prima che du dica 'Pronto', by Mondadori Editore, Milan, itself preceded by the 1985 bilingual, limited edition issue by Plain Wrapper Press, of Cottondale, AL.

A posthumous collection of stories, witty allegories and wise fables by the late Italian fabulist, many of which have never been published in book form before and spanning the whole of Italo Calvino's career. "Tim Park's translation is perfectly in tune with the various dialects and discourses that Calvino assimilated during his career. By the '80s his supple Italian was tossing off polylingual arpeggios, technical jargons, nonce words... More than accurate and readable [Park's] version is inventive." –The New York Times Book Review