Dell'andare in montagna e altre amabili ascensioni

The great authors of international fiction talk about the mountains. We start from the imaginary peaks, those dreamed of by Emilio Salgari, Mark Twain, Jack London and the Spaniard Gustavo Bécquer, and then accompany two famous Italian mountaineers in their exploits, those very real and concrete ones: Guido Rey and Ettore Zapparoli. The interlude of a nineteenth-century physiologist makes you smile with his attempts to measure performance in the mountains, then we move on to the stories of mountain people, the solitary types described by Giuseppe Giacosa and Mary Wilkins Freeman, the Alpine troops met by Rudyard Kipling and the first woman to climb Mont Blanc as told by Alexandre Dumas. The literary walk is completed by the peaks experienced by great authors such as Victor Hugo, George Sand and Scipio Slataper. The stories by George Sand, Mark Twain and Mary E. Wilkins Freeman are unpublished works published for the first time in Italy. With texts by: Gustavo Bécquer, Alexandre Dumas, Giuseppe Giacosa, Victor Hugo, Rudyard Kipling, Jack London, Angelo Mosso, Guido Rey, Emilio Salgari, George Sand, Scipio Slataper, Mark Twain, Mary E. Wilkins Freeman, Ettore Zapparoli.< /p>

Oops! Dear readers, we owe you an apology...
Fortunately we are not (too) superstitious and therefore starting the new year with the confession of a sensational stumble does not scare us (too much). When we work on our books we put in all the care and passion possible, trying to give each volume the right attention to the writing, the content and to give it a graphic design that can enhance it. However, even though we always try our best, sometimes we make mistakes. It happened, alas, with our third literary anthology. After "On walking and other distractions. Anthology for wayfarers and dreamers" of 2017 and "On cycling and other digressions. Anthology for cyclists and dreamers" of 2020, this Christmas we would like to delight you with a new volume dedicated to the mountains. In fact, “On going to the mountains and other lovely ascensions”, edited by Francesca Cosi and Alessandra Repossi, with the preface by Linda Cottino and with illustrations by Giulia Neri, was scheduled for release in bookstores in mid-November 2021. And it must be said, all until at that moment it went well: the book left the printing house, then traveled to the Messaggerie warehouses (our Italian distributor, ed.), within the agreed times and without delays. At the publishing house we were already anticipating the release of our little Christmas present, when... opening the very first copy that arrived at the editorial office "hot off the press", we started to leaf through it - and we smelled it, we must admit, we really stuck our noses in it inside the pages, every time a new book arrives, as if it were the first time - then we open the first pages to check if everything fits, if the colors are right, if it feels pleasant to the touch, until the eye falls on the final part of the preface. We immediately realize that something isn't right: why are all these terms related to bicycles? But wasn't it a book about going to the mountains? How strange... So let's turn the page again, let's go back and notice other terms related to bicycles such as "velocipede", "cyclists", "handlebar", two wheels" and then the bitter discovery: incredulous and a little bewildered we realize that the beginning of the last paragraph on page 9 begins with a beautiful lowercase letter, like this: "nobility of the winged horse". NOOOOOO! At the bottom of the preface by the journalist Linda Cottino we left a passage from the preface of the previous anthology, the one dedicated to the bicycle and signed by Marco Pastonesi. NOOOOO!!!! AND NOW??? Having recovered from the shock we started making all the necessary phone calls: the curators, the author of the preface, the illustrator, the promotional network, the distribution, let's block everything! Goodbye Christmas gift. And now what do we do? In the following days the poor anthology lay on the table in the meeting room, we glanced at it furtively every now and then. Maybe we needed to decant it, in the oenological sense of the term. After much discussion in the editorial office - shall we reprint it? shall we send it to the pulp mill? do we keep it like this? well after all the book lacks nothing, if anything it has something more - we decided that it wouldn't be fair to the planet to waste 850 kg of paper given that so much was needed for this first edition. So, after consulting some professionals and listening to their valuable opinions, we decided that the volume would still be distributed as it is, unique in its imperfect nature. However, we opted for the addition of a removable yellow bubble on the cover which explains what happened to the reader in a very direct way. Here's what he says: "Oops! Dear readers, we owe you an apology. Like all our books, this one too has been followed and pampered, yet we missed an error. At the bottom of the preface we left a passage from the previous anthology on the bicycle. We could have reprint it, but that would have wasted 850 kg of paper. We thank you for your understanding and wish you happy reading!" How about? We trust that you can understand our reasons and help us make this story in history known to as many people as possible. After all, as the English composer John Powell said, "The only real mistake is the one from which we learn nothing." We hope you start the new year with many good reads and a good dose of self-irony.