Invisible Cities (1972/1974) Signed First Edition Reference

Le città invisibili (Einaudi, 1972) is Calvino’s most formally radical work — a series of prose poems describing fifty-five imaginary cities, organized into categories (Cities and Memory, Cities and Desire, Cities and Signs, Thin Cities, Trading Cities, Cities and Eyes, Cities and Names, Cities and the Dead, Continuous Cities, Hidden Cities), framed by a dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan. Each city is a meditation on an aspect of human experience — desire, memory, language, death, exchange — compressed into a page or two of luminous prose.

First Edition Identification

Italian: Einaudi, 1972. Le città invisibili. English: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974. Invisible Cities. Translated by William Weaver.

The Connoisseur’s Calvino

While Cosmicomics is the standard Calvino trophy, Invisible Cities is the connoisseur’s choice — the book that architects, urban planners, philosophers, and poets adopt as their own. Its influence extends far beyond literature into architecture, urban studies, and visual art. A signed Invisible Cities signals deeper engagement with Calvino’s work than a signed Cosmicomics.

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed Italian first: $700–$1,800
• Signed English first: $400–$1,200
• Unsigned Italian first: $150–$400
• Unsigned English first: $50–$150