Adelphi Edizioni is a publishing house based in Milan, Italy that specializes in works of fiction, philosophy, science and classics translated into Italian.
Adelphi Edizioni S.p.A. was founded in 1962 by Luciano Foà, Roberto Bazlen, Alberto Zevi and Roberto Olivetti.[1] Among the main collaborators were Giorgio Colli, Sergio Solmi, Claudio Rugafiori, Franco Volpi, and Giuseppe Pontiggia. Roberto Calasso worked at Adelphi from 1962,[2] becoming editorial director in 1971 and president in 1999. He became the majority owner of Adelphi in 2015.[1]
The name was inspired by the Greek word adelphi (ἀδελφοί), which means "brothers" or "companions" and refers to the group who founded the publishing house.[3]
The first book published by Adelphi was Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe. One of their first important publishing endeavours was the publication of a new complete works of Friedrich Nietzsche, edited by Giorgio Colli and Mazzino Montinari, in collaboration with Éditions Gallimard and Walter de Gruyter. This project had previously been rejected by the established Italian publisher Giulio Einaudi editore.[4] They also publish a literary magazine called Adelphiana.
Adelphi has been associated with promoting Mitteleuropean literature from the 1970s onwards [4][5] and publishing works by contemporary authors that have not yet received recognition elsewhere.[5][6]
In 2016, RCS Media Group, who held a 58% stake in Adelphi, sold its entire books division RCS Libri and its underlying subsidiaries to Arnoldo Mondadori Editore.[7] However, Roberto Calasso regained control of the house through an option to repurchase the shares, becoming a majority holder (71%) and exiting the media group.[8]
After Calasso's passing in 2021, Teresa Cremisi was designated as the president of Adelphi, with Roberto Colajanni named as CEO and editorial director.[9]
Adelphi's translated publications include works by Nietzsche, Robert Walser, Georges Simenon, Nabokov, Somerset Maugham, Tolkien, Gottfried Benn, Jack London, Jorge Luis Borges, Elias Canetti, Oliver Sacks, Bruce Chatwin, and Milan Kundera. Bestsellers include 101 Zen Stories and The Unbearable Lightness of Being.
Italian authors published by Adelphi include Roberto Calasso, Leonardo Sciascia, Manlio Sgalambro, Benedetto Croce, Mario Brelich, Tommaso Landolfi, Goffredo Parise, Ennio Flaiano, Giorgio Manganelli, Alberto Savinio, Giorgio Colli, Anna Maria Ortese, and Salvatore Niffoi (winner of the 2006 Premio Campiello).
Adelphi started publishing scientific literature in 1977 with Gregory Bateson's Steps to an Ecology of Mind.
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