Alessandro Soave established the Soave Antiquarian Bookshop in 1937 at the close of a long and diversified experience which began in the office of his well-known Turin stock-broker father. Then, after the Great War, in which he served as the commanding officer of mountain artillery battery, he was a barrister at the Turin Bar. In 1921, Alessandro left Italy and, thanks to the considerable independent means provided by his family, he embarked on a successful artistic career as a sculptor; first, in the ?roaring twenties?, with a studio, in Berlin, and in the Thirties he moved on to Montparnasse. These periods were interspersed with spells in Turin for exhibitions with his friends and famous Italian artists Menzio and Spazzapan.
Alessandro Soave passed away in 1957. The bookshop closed its activity for a while but was reopened by his wife, Elena Médail, a literature teacher in Turin Lyceums. Elena was the daughter of Turin Prefect Enrico Médail, the nephew of Giuseppe Francesco Médail, the man who conceived the Frejus Railway Tunnel under the French-Italian Alps.
Emilio Soave, Alessandro?s son, while still an arts undergraduate at Turin University, began helping his mother in the bookshop. Under the guiding hand of mentor Marino Parenti, the well-known Florentine bibliophile and bibliographer, Emilio started the publication of a series of small but refined catalogues of antiquarian books, which, over the years, began appearing more regularly.
Emilio?s copious and well-documented dissertation entitled The Typographic Industry in Piedmont from the beginning of the 18th century to King Charles Albert?s Statute was later published in a large volume by Gribaudi. This dissertation was then followed by a series of essays and research papers in the field of contemporary history and a spell as a lecturer at Turin University. In the early-1970s Emilio?s elder brother joined the bookshop. Vittorio had worked in the engineering industry for a number of local companies. Vittorio then moved on to London, where he married and worked as a civil servant. He then moved to Paris to work for a French bank. On his return to Italy he worked as a translator for the leading publishers, Einaudi, and also taught civil law and economics in an Accountancy School. With Vittorio?s arrival, the bookshop slowly changed from a part-time hobby of the founder into a solid commercial concern, which enjoyed a good reputation for the reliability and scholarship of its owners and the publication of a series of catalogues in the fields of economics and social sciences, mathematics and physics, and on such monographic works as The History of the Waldenses, Piedmont between the French Revolution and Napoleonic Rule, The 1821 Piedmontese Revolution, The Jacobite Period in the Kingdom of Sardinia, De Occulta Philosophia, De Societate Jesu, and so on.
Vittorio Soave was appointed for two four-year terms as President of ALAI (the Italian Booksellers? Association) which he boosted by providing it with a proper administrative frame and furthering its national and international visibility through the 1986 ILAB Congress and Book Fair in Venice. Whilst Vittorio was in office, ALAI joined the first Turin Salone del Libro (Book Fair) and in 1995 the first Antiquarian Book Fair in Florence. Vittorio Soave also served on the Board of the ILAB Committee from 1988 to 1992.
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LIBRERIA ANTIQUARIA SOAVE
VIA PO 48, PIANO AMMEZZATO, TORINO - TO, TO, 10123, Italy
Sale & Shipping Terms
Terms of Sale
Mail orders are payable by credit card or bank transfer. We ship worldwide:
shipping costs depend on book weight and dimensions.
We are responsable for shipping.
Libreria Antiquaria Soave, snc
Via Po, 48
I-10123 Torino ? TO
VAT No. 00485150015 ? CCIA 141256
Payments to: Libreria Antiquaria Soave snc ? BIC SWIFT: UNCRIT M1 AA3
IBAN: IT 80 I 02008 01058 000 1000 79701
Landline: +39 011 817 8957
Mobiles: Vittorio: +39 348 26 36 376 ? Emilio +39 347 788 2895
E-mail: info@libsoave.com
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Shipping Terms
Orders usually ship within 2 business days. Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required.
Shipping rates from Italy to U.S.A.
Shipping rates from Italy to U.S.A.
| Order quantity |
25 to 45 business days |
8 to 18 business days |
| First item |
US$ 15.06 |
US$ 23.16 |
Delivery times are set by sellers and vary by carrier and location. Orders passing through Customs may face delays and buyers are responsible for any associated duties or fees. Sellers may contact you regarding additional charges to cover any increased costs to ship your items.
