1969

Classics to enjoy: Meridiani

The Meridiani series was born out of Arnoldo Mondadori’s idea to collect in a single series all major writers of all times and from all countries. Vittorio Sereni, literary chief editor at the time, suggested the word “meridians” for the book series destined to replace gradually the prestigious series: Classici contemporanei italiani (1946-1976) and Classici contemporanei stranieri (1947-1975).

The Meridiani brought together extremely rigorous texts with excellent translations and critics’ commentaries with an elegant format, making these books a prestigious gift.

Drawing on the example of the French Bibliothèque de la Pléiade, the Meridiani targeted scholars as well as everyday readers fond of classics. The philologic rigour applied to Italian texts is accompanied by first-rate translations of the foreign texts.

Critical introductions, chronologies, notes and bibliographies are the essential kit provided to read each individual author. The format – refined and manageable – aims to satisfy even the most discerning bibliophile and especially intends to offer to a wider audience accurate editions of timeless classics.

To ancient and modern classics, the Meridiani series added major 19^th and 20^th Century writers such as Marcel Proust, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, Luigi Pirandello, Edgar Allan Poe, Jorge Luis Borges and Ivo Andrič, as well as Italian poets such as Gabriele D’Annunzio, Giuseppe Ungaretti, Eugenio Montale and Salvatore Quasimodo.