A colorful sea of books

Edizioni La Conchiglia was born in 1989: thirty years of meetings and discussions, of ideas and achievements, of difficulties and solutions. Thirty years have passed with many books published. Indeed, already before 1989, two titles appeared under the brand name of the publishing house: Foreign Writers in Capri by Ettore Settanni in 1986, and Journey of a French Spy and Libertine in Seventeenth-Century Capri by J. J. Bouchard in 1987. It was only in that initial year of our activity, however, a series of contingencies and meetings occurred which gave way to the birth and continuous and “official” activity of Edizioni La Conchiglia.

The first founding element of the Publishing House was that of a common idea on the concept of “doing politics”. We were in fact convinced then, and even more today, that politics is realized every day, not only in actions and gestures connected to the world of parties and representative institutions, but also in any human and entrepreneurial activity where a precise idea about the past is expressed , on the present and future of the society in which we live. This idea cannot and must not only be personal but must arise from a sort of “collective intellectual”, which can materialize, in our case, not only around a large publisher but also in a “niche” publishing house when more people , often distant from each other in culture, era or geography, contribute, even without wanting to, to forming a sort of laboratory capable of producing a common project.

Together with these fundamental basic concepts we want to remember two episodes that have guided us since the beginning of our activity, and which have materialized abstract ideals in an unexpected and surprising epiphany. The first occurred during a small theatrical performance organized by the good teachers of Capri’s primary school, including teacher Pina Bratto, who took inspiration from a book, The Names of Capri, published by us in 1992 and written by another “historical” teacher. ” of Capri, Salvatore Borà, in which the origins of the names of the streets and the main locations on the island were explained. In the theatrical adaptation of the work what struck us right away was that the children, giving voice, heart and movement to a book printed by us, echoed a series of knowledge borrowed from the contents of the book and appropriated it, transforming them into “common sense” and the shared heritage of a community.

The second happened to us suddenly, when we were invited by the School of Booksellers of Orvieto to tell our story as entrepreneurs in the book sector and small publishers. We had prepared a speech that was perhaps too official and didactic, so when we found ourselves in front of boys and girls enthusiastic about a fascinating, but difficult and hard job, we both thought it appropriate to be more spontaneous and speak simply and directly about our history: two people who before of everything they had fallen in love with each other, who before that had decided to engage in active and daily politics and then to “do business”, always together. The aspiring booksellers understood from our story that those of the bookseller and the publisher were not, and are not, codifiable professions nor can they be explained through definitive and universal formulas: every bookshop and every publishing house are small (or large) garrisons, driving forces of civilizations and cultural laboratories in continuous activity, places of meetings, aggregation and cultural and social organisation.

Already ten years ago, to celebrate the twenty years of the editions, during a meeting organized for the occasion at Palazzo Reale by the president of the Napoli Prize, Silvio Perrella, we remembered the many authors we met and who helped us in this wonderful activity and who are no longer with us: first of all Benito Iezzi with whom we founded the Caprese Almanac in 1989, and then many other extraordinary people who contributed to the growth of our editions. Everyone, however, we are convinced, continues to live in the books they wrote and we published, and their ideas, their research, their love nourish, like very fertile humus, this Island which holds a living and pulsating soul . Thanks to them and the friendship they gave us.

Thirty years after the birth of La Conchiglia we are happy to be able to say that the same idea of militant publishing, a tool for manifesting and concretizing a precise political idea of the society in which we live, continues with the commitment and passion of Vincenzo which has always been part of this editorial and entrepreneurial adventure.

Today, after thirty years, we are increasingly aware that, just to quote a book, the forces of the “kingdom of nothingness” are vastly overwhelming, but we are equally aware that the only way to oppose the standardization and transformation of the island is of our land, in a sad and gray park of guaranteed and forced fun, resides in words and ideas, especially those printed and left to the readers of today and tomorrow. And we are convinced that our little island is, today more than ever, a paradigm of a more general reality. So that we can be even happier and more satisfied when we observe the variety of colors on the covers of our books, a sign and testimony of the many “colorful minds” that have contributed to creating this small sea of books.

Our dream remains to continue swimming together in this magnificent sea.

Riccardo and Ausilia