Baldini & Castoldi
![]() | |
Industry | Media |
---|---|
Founded | 1897 (Milan, Kingdom of Italy) |
Founder | Ettore Baldini, Antenore Castoldi, Alceste Borella, Gian Pietro Lucini |
Headquarters | , Italy |
Key people | Elisabetta Sgarbi (president and director general) |
Products | Publishing of books |
Services | Bookshops |
Website | baldinicastoldi |
Baldini + Castoldi, formerly known as Baldini Castoldi Dalai Editore until 2018, is an Italian publishing house founded in 1897 as Baldini & Castoldi. It changed its name to Dalai Editore in 2011, and Baldini & Castoldi became a series of Dalai Editore. The company has published several successful authors and is located under the arcades of Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.
Foundation
[edit]Founder members were Ettore Baldini, Antenore Castoldi, Alceste Borella, and the poet Gian Pietro Lucini,[1] who had acquired the small publishing house Galli and Omodei and then renamed it as Baldini & Castoldi.[2] At its foundation in 1897,[3] it had a registered capital of 60,000 Italian lire.[4] Among the first successful authors, there were Antonio Fogazzaro, Gerolamo Rovetta, Neera (Anna Zuccari), Salvator Gotta, and Guido da Verona;[5] da Verona in particular was the most commercially successful Italian writer between 1914 and 1939.[6]
History
[edit]20th century
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Stand_edizioni_baldini_e_castoldi_salone_del_libro_2016.jpg/220px-Stand_edizioni_baldini_e_castoldi_salone_del_libro_2016.jpg)
In 1940, the management was renewed with the arrival of Enrico Castoldi that opened more to the presence in the catalog of foreign authors, especially Hungarian.[2] It established itself during the 1950s and 1960s, particularly in the literary sector.[1] A descent of sales took the publisher to suspend its activities in 1970.[7]
In 1991, the publishing house was taken by Alessandro Dalai,[8] who bought the shares owned by the publishing group Elemond,[9] and Oreste del Buono.[10] The publishing house offered numerous book series focused on fiction, nonfiction, history, economy, humor, and satire (with the Le formiche series).[11] An important part of their publications was reserved to debuts and emerging writers.[12] A key role in the revitalization of the brand was given by the success of the humorous books by Gino and Michele and then by Va dove ti porta il cuore, a novel written by Susanna Tamaro which became in a short time an international bestseller.[13] According to a 1997 report made on the occasion of the centenary of Baldini & Castoldi, after Dalai's relaunch, the publishing house had 25 employees, an income between 35 and 40 billion lire a year and published about 150 books a year.[14]
21st century
[edit]In July 2000, Dalai completed the acquisition of the publishing house pointing out the shares owned by the Mondadori Group (since 1994), adding his name to the brand of the publisher.[1] In 2004, Dalai appealed to the sentence ruling that Gianni Brera's works belong to Brera's heirs, who felt that Dalai Editori was stopping from being published; Dalai also stated that Baldini Castoldi Dalai had published fourteen Brera's works and intended to publish further.[15]
Into the 2010s, Baldini & Castoldi became one of the most important Italian independent publishers.[5] In 2011, the company changed its name to Dalai Editore and Baldini & Castoldi became a series of Dalai Editore, which closed down in 2014;[1] Dalai was acquitted of all charges, including fraudolent bankruptcy, in December 2023.[16] The publisher was revived through to the effort of a new publishing house, simply named Baldini & Castoldi. In 2018, it was renamed Baldini + Castoldi.[1]
Published authors
[edit]Some of the publisher's most successful authors include Enrico Brizzi, Giorgio Faletti, Fabio Geda, Gianluca Arrighi, Antonio Pennacchi, Aldo Busi,[5] and since 1993 also Paolo Mereghetti with his Dictionary of the Film.[5]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e Treccani 2018.
- ^ a b Gigli Marchetti 1997; Di Stefano 2011.
- ^ Mosca 2013; Treccani 2018.
- ^ Arte tipografica 1996.
- ^ a b c d Di Stefano 2011.
- ^ De Berti 2000.
- ^ Treccani 2009; Di Stefano 2011.
- ^ Adnkronos, 4 February 2004; Treccani 2018.
- ^ Treccani 2009.
- ^ Genta 1991; Di Stefano 2011.
- ^ Treccani 2009; Treccani 2018.
- ^ La Stampa, 4 December 1999.
- ^ Messina 1995; Tornabuoni 1995; Abbà & Archinto 2000.
- ^ Altarocca 1997.
- ^ Adnkronos, 4 February 2004.
- ^ Linkiesta, 21 December 2023; Sciandivaschi 2024.
Bibliography
[edit]- Books
- Abbà, Anna; Archinto, Francesca (2000). Quo vadis libro? Interviste sull'editoria italiana in tempo di crisi (in Italian). Milan: EDUCatt. ISBN 978-8883116803.
- "Baldini & Castoldi". Enciclopedia Treccani Tre Volumi (in Italian). Rome: Italian Encyclopedia Institute. 2009.
- "Baldini & Castoldi". Enciclopedia Treccani (in Italian). Rome: Italian Encyclopedia Institute. 2018. Retrieved 7 March 2024 – via Treccani.
- De Berti, Raffaele (2000). Dallo schermo alla carta (in Italian). Milan: Vita e Pensiero. ISBN 8834306368.
- Di Stefano, Paolo (18 August 2011). Potresti anche dirmi grazie. Gli scrittori raccontati dagli editori (in Italian). Milan: Rizzoli. ISBN 978-8858600597.
- Gigli Marchetti, Ada (1997). Stampa e piccola editoria tra le due guerre (in Italian). Milan: F. Angeli. ISBN 9788846403476.
- News articles
- Altarocca, Claudio (4 December 1997). "Baldini & Castoldi, cent'anni". La Stampa (in Italian). p. 1. ISSN 1122-1763.
- "Arte tipografica". La fabbrica del libro (in Italian). No. 2. 1996.
- "Il fatto non sussiste Assolto da tutte le accuse Alessandro Dalai, l'ex editore di Baldini e Castoldi". Linkiesta (in Italian). 21 December 2023. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- "Baldini & Castoldi, nuovi talenti addio (forse resta la Tamaro)". La Stampa (in Italian). 4 December 1999. p. 11. ISSN 1122-1763.
- Genta, Luciano (19 October 1991). "Dalai: così rifaccio la Baldini & Castoldi". La Stampa (in Italian). p. 7. ISSN 1122-1763.
- Gianola, Rinaldo (12 April 1997). "Va a majority of the Dalai Baldini & Castoldi". La Repubblica (in Italian). ISSN 0390-1076. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- Messina, Dino (10 April 1995). "Il mio regno per una formica". Corriere della Sera (in Italian). p. 31. ISSN 1120-4982. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- Mosca, Simone (5 February 2013). "Un quadro e cento libri per ricordare Baldini". La Repubblica (in Italian). ISSN 0390-1076. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- Sciandivaschi, Simonetta (3 March 2024). "Alessandro Dalai: 'L'editoria mi ha tolto tutto'". La Stampa (in Italian). ISSN 1122-1763. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- "Scrittori: Baldini Castoldi ricorrera' in Appello per brera" (in Italian). Adnkronos. 4 February 2004. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- Tornabuoni, Lietta (8 June 1995). "Dalai, Il cacciatore di bestsellers". La Stampa (in Italian). p. 15. ISSN 1122-1763.