The Path to the Spiders' Nests (1947/1957) First Edition Reference

Il sentiero dei nidi di ragno (Einaudi, 1947) is Calvino’s first novel — a neorealist account of the Italian Resistance as experienced by Pin, a young boy who joins the partisans. The novel draws on Calvino’s own wartime experience fighting with partisan brigades in Liguria. The English translation, The Path to the Nest of Spiders (later The Path to the Spiders’ Nests), was published by Beacon Press in 1957.

First Edition Identification

Italian: Einaudi, Turin, 1947. Calvino’s debut. English: Beacon Press, Boston, 1957. Translated by Archibald Colquhoun.

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed Italian first: $500–$1,500
• Signed English first: $200–$600
• Unsigned Italian first: $200–$500
• Unsigned English first: $50–$150

The novel is primarily of interest to Calvino completists and scholars. It represents the neorealist phase that Calvino would rapidly move beyond.