Franco Maria Ricci

A stunningly designed edition of Borges’ beloved “long story,” about a utopic universal congress with full-color tantric cosmology miniatures and an essay on the tantras. In typical deluxe treatment by Franco Maria Ricci, bound in black silk and printed on handmade papers, published in a limited edition of 4000 numbered copies, and signed by Ricci. In this edition, Borges is illustrated by tantric miniatures tipped in, with an introduction to Tantric cosmology by Alain Danielou. A marvelous first edition and highly collectible in the FMR series.

The Congress of the World. [Milan, Italy]: Franco Maria Ricci, [1981]. Limited edition, number 1311 of 4,000 copies on blue hand-made Fabriano paper.
Folio. 144, [8] pp., including colophon and numerous illustrations and tipped-in color plates. Black publisher’s cloth, spine and front cover stamped in gilt, color onlaid to front cover, patterned endpapers. Matching clamshell box, all in excellent condition.

Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986) is considered one of the most influential and acclaimed South American writers of the twentieth century. Borges himself selected “The Congress” as one of his favorite of his own stories, writing: “If of all my stories I had to save one, I would probably save ‘The Congress,’ which is at the same time the most autobiographical (the one richest in memories) and the most imaginative.”

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