The Art of the Publisher

Pickle Woodcuts Eli Horowitz and Ian Huebert In Conversation

The Pickle Index is being feted far and wide as a multi-platform vision of the future of storytelling . And it is that. But it also, at heart, an old-fashioned fable in the tradition of, say, George Orwell and James Thurber (a natural pair, like a carrot and a cucumber) — a fable about a world in which pickled vegetables are the basis of the diet, the economy, the culture, and the only hope is a seemingly hapless circus troupe trying to put their arcane skills to good and desperate use . . . you can see where the Orwell and Thurber comparisons come from. Right? But anyway, what's more old-fashioned than the actual wood-cuts that illustrate the paperback edition? Here, digital visionary Horowitz peppers Ian Huebert, print-maker and illustrator, with questions about just the distinctly analog way woodcut gets made (Look at those tools! Sharp, dangerous tools that cut into wood! Look at that printing press!) — never once letting on that the FSG Originals paperback edition contains a secret illustration of an octopus in a rowboat that is absolutely exclusive to our edition. You will, however, have the opportunity to win a signed and numbered letter-press poster by Mr. Huebert himself.So read on, friends, read on! Read More...

A Letter to a Stranger Roberto Calasso On Publishing

In The Art of the Publisher, the illustrious Roberto Calasso reflects on more than half a century of distinguished literary publishing at Adelphi Edizioni in Milan. With his signature erudition and grasp of literary history, he recalls the beginnings of the house in the 1960s and touches on everything from the strategies for publishing a wide range of authors of high literary quality to the state of the industry as a whole. In this excerpt, Calasso muses on the elusive literary art known as jacket copy. Read on...