"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
"Kublai Khan does not necessarily believe everything Marco Polo says when he describes the cities visited on his expeditions, but the emperor of the Tartars does continue listening to the young Venetian with greater attention and curiosity than he shows any other messenger or explorer of his." So begins Italo Calvino's compilation of fragmentary urban images. As Marco tells the khan about Armilla, which "has nothing that makes it seem a city, except the water pipes that rise vertically where the houses should be and spread out horizontally where the floors should be," the spider-web city of Octavia, and other marvelous burgs, it may be that he is creating them all out of his imagination, or perhaps he is recreating details of his native Venice over and over again, or perhaps he is simply recounting some of the myriad possible forms a city might take.
“Cities, like dreams, are made of desires and fears, even if the thread of their discourse is secret, their rules are absurd, their perspectives deceitful, and everything conceals something else.” — from Invisible Cities
In a garden sit the aged Kublai Khan and the young Marco Polo — Mongol emperor and Venetian traveler. Kublai Khan has sensed the end of his empire coming soon. Marco Polo diverts his host with stories of the cities he has seen in his travels around the empire: cities and memory, cities and desire, cities and designs, cities and the dead, cities and the sky, trading cities, hidden cities. As Marco Polo unspools his tales, the emperor detects these fantastic places are more than they appear.
“Invisible Cities changed the way we read and what is possible in the balance between poetry and prose . . . The book I would choose as pillow and plate, alone on a desert island.” — Jeanette Winterson
Italo Calvino (1923–1985) attained worldwide renown as one of the twentieth century’s greatest storytellers. Born in Cuba, he was raised in San Remo, Italy, and later lived in Turin, Paris, Rome, and elsewhere. Among his many works are If on a winter’s night a traveler and The Baron in the Trees, as well as numerous collections of fiction, folktales, criticism, and essays. His works have been translated into dozens of languages.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
FREE shipping within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speedsSeller: ThriftBooks-Atlanta, AUSTELL, GA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Missing dust jacket; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.95. Seller Inventory # G0151452903I3N01
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.95. Seller Inventory # G0151452903I3N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooks-Dallas, Dallas, TX, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Fair. No Jacket. Readable copy. Pages may have considerable notes/highlighting. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less 0.95. Seller Inventory # G0151452903I5N00
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooksVintage, Tukwila, WA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Fourth printing. Shelf and handling wear to cover and binding, with general signs of previous use. CLEAN COVER AND CONTENT PAGES. See photos for more information. Secure packaging for safe delivery. 0.95. Seller Inventory # 1770705687
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: ThriftBooksVintage, Tukwila, WA, U.S.A.
Paperback. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Dust jacket missing. First edition THUS. Shelf and handling wear to cover and binding, with general signs of previous use. Secure packaging for safe delivery. 0.95. Seller Inventory # 1560522005
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Lost Books, AUSTIN, TX, U.S.A.
Hard cover. Text in English, Italian. 165 p. 21 cm. "A Helen and Kurt Wolff book." Translation of Le città invisibili. Good in good dust jacket. Shelf wear and light rubbing to jacket. Small chip on top front of jacket, now in mylar. Creases to jacket flaps. Small amount of foxing to closed page edges. Text unmarked. Seller Inventory # Alibris.0015131
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Book Stall of Rockford, Inc., Rockford, IL, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. First edition stated. No wear to the binding. No distortion from reading or improper shelving. Pages are tight and clean with no marks. Small, faint fluid stain to the top of the text block. Previous owner's bookplate on the front flyleaf. No odor. No water damage. No soiling. The dust jacket priced at $6.50 (not clipped) shows light edge wear. No sun fading. DJ in an archival protector. Seller Inventory # MP23-3224ZS
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Archive, Sth Hobart, TAS, Australia
Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. 1st Edition. Near Fine In A Good + Jacket With Light Surface Wear Pp 165. Seller Inventory # 013953
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Lost Books, AUSTIN, TX, U.S.A.
Hard cover. Text in English, Italian. 165 p. 21 cm. "A Helen and Kurt Wolff book." Translation of Le città invisibili. Very good in very good dust jacket. Some rubbing and edge wear to jacket, else near fine in mylar. Text is unmarked. Boards, binding and pages all in excellent condition. Seller Inventory # Alibris.0015483
Quantity: 1 available
Seller: Carpetbagger Books, ABAA, Woodstock, IL, U.S.A.
Hardcover. Condition: Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good. First Edition. Translated by William Weaver. With a laid-in holograph postcard signed by Calvino to scholar Albert Howard Carter. Good in a Very Good Fine jacket, unclipped ($6.50), rubbed at the surface and edges, a few small chips at the head of the spine. Quarter grey buckram with black paper on the boards, bumped and rubbed at the edges and corners. Bound with a forward lean and some reading wear, annotations from Calvino scholar Albert Howard Carter throughout, demonstrating the effort required to puzzle together the order of the book. Calvino's novel in the form of a time traveling conversation between Kublai Khan and Marco Polo. Neblua Award nominee in 1975. Seller Inventory # 9350
Quantity: 1 available