2023-11-15 14:21:16
‘The Lord of the Rings’ by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (1892-1973) was released in Great Britain between 1954 and 1955, a masterpiece destined to become one of the most read books in the world, with over 150 million copies sold. The English writer’s novel arrived in Italy 16 years later, in 1970 – after two rejections from Mondadori (thanks to the negative opinion of Elio Vittorini and Vittorio Sereni) and a failed attempt from Astrolabio – thanks to Rusconi Libri and a working group of intellectuals of the moderate right who glimpse a literary genius behind the fantasy tale.
When the editorial undertaking is finally accomplished, ‘The Lord of the Rings’ however takes unexpected paths: while in America the hippies with crowns of flowers praise Middle-earth and the return to nature, evoking the Hobbits printed on jeans and t-shirts, in In Italy, the small and heroic Tolkien creatures can be found in black shirts among the ranks of the far right. In fact, in 1977 the “Hobbit Camps” were born, the gatherings of young Missini.
The story of the troubled and twisty publication of the novel is told in a volume coming out these days entitled “Tolkien and The Lord of the Rings – Editorial history of a masterpiece” (Luni Editrice) by Velania La Mendola: it tells the protagonists behind the scenes of publishing, the genesis of the publication, with the first translation then completely revised by Quirino Principe, the many cover tests by Piero Crida, the intervention of Elémire Zolla with Rusconi and the then editorial director Alfredo Cattabiani, the debates following the publications, the cultural contexts in which these extremes developed. It is the story of a masterpiece that gave literary life back to the fairy tale and invented fantasy; a work that has been despised, ideologicalized, exploited, misguided, but above all it has been and still is much loved by those who matter above all to a writer: the readers.
In 1967 the Roman publisher Mario Ubaldini of Astrolabio-Ubaldini won the rights to publish Tolkien and in November of that year the first edition of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ appeared in Italian bookshops with the title ‘The Fellowship of the Ring’. The translation was entrusted to the very young Princess Vicky Alliata of Villafranca (then fifteen years old). Only 400 copies of that edition were sold and the Astrolabio publishing house, which until then had only published texts on sociology, psychology and philosophy, found itself temporarily in dire economic straits.
When the rumor spread in the publishing world at the beginning of 1970 that Rusconi Libri would be born and that Alfredo Cattabiani (whose intellectual vocation in favor of tradition, fairy tales and myths was well known) would be its director, Ubaldini gave him all the material in his possession, including the first English edition of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ and the complete typescript of the Italian translation created by Vicky Alliata of Villafranca.
Cattabiani, supported by the opinion of Elémire Zolla and Quirino Principe, the two main consultants of the Rusconi publishing house, ordered Tolkien’s book to be printed: the Italian edition of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ in a single volume left the printer on 18 October 1970 The Rusconi edition was the result of a collaboration between several voices: Zolla wrote the introduction, Quirino Principe rewrote the appendices, took care of various aspects of the translation and designed the Map of Middle-earth, Lorenzo Fenoglio took care of the editing and Piero Crida created the cover image. That edition, bound with dust jacket, achieved unexpected success with three reprints in the space of a few months and led to the translation of other Tolkien works in the wake of the long-lasting success of ‘The Lord of the Rings’.
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