Lacerba - Complete Collection - 69 issues

Florence, (Printers: Tip. A. Vallecchi), Jan 1913-May 1915, 4°, (h. I: 350x250 mm: aa, II-III 370x270mm) 16 pp. per issue (8 in y. III) numbered progressively by year.

Complete collection (unbound) of the 69 issues of the famous fortnightly review (weekly in 1915) edited by Papini and Soffici. 

Lacerba was an Italian literary review (fortnightly at first, then weekly) started by Giovanni Papini and Ardengo Soffici in 1913 In Florence. The title is taken from a 14th Century poem, Lacerba, by Cecco d’Ascoli, as well as the line, “Quinonsicantaal mondodellerane” (“Here we don’t sing to the world of frogs”), used as a slogan printed below the masthead. Many of the most famous futurists contributed to thereview,so that it became the principal vehicle for futurist ideas and graphics between 1913 and 1914. “The intensity of its presence, its luck and the range of its coverage, its polemical tone as well as the richness and scattershot breadth of its subject matter, its language and themes, and its articles and pictures, place it among Europe’s leading avant-garde publications alongside France’s Les Soirées de Paris, Germany’s Der Sturm and Blaue Reiter almanac, and Britain’s Blast,” (Del Puppo, Lacerba 1913-1915, p. 9).

The personality and European outlook of the review emerge clearly from its publication of illustrations byArchipeko,Lariovov, Picasso; and of texts by Ford, Jacob and Apollinaire. Towards the end of 1914, the reviews columns widely reflected Italy’s prevalent interventionist mood. At the same time, the deep differences between the pro-Lacerba and pro-Marinetti factions exploded into open debate in the pages of the review, culminating in a blistering editorial, Futurism andMarinettism(III. 7, 14 Feb. ‘15). 

In 1915, Lacerba became an anti-Futurist (or rather, an anti-Marinetti) publication. However, it remained violently interventionist, while still maintaining the quality and variety of its editorial content, which included Ungaretti’s first forays into newsprint.Lacerba’sdesign was based on the classical Italian layout for magazines, with pages divided into several columns. But, in addition, Lacerba ran etching as well as musical scores over the entire page.  “The graphics of the masthead, designed by Ardengo Soffici, changed every year: in 1913 hand-crafted,brown-colouredlettering was used; in 1914 switched to larger, black type; and finally in 1915 the masthead was printed in a red, stencil-like, typeface” (Salaris, Riviste. p. 372). The collection is in excellent conditions and it is rare to find such an unbound set of such quality.  

Number : Complete collection (69 issues)

Periodicity : fortnightly, then weekly

B/W - Col : Black/White

Illustrated : Yes