Ottone Rosai - Il libro di un teppista - 1930

Second edition with variants, following the first edition of 1919. 16mo (approximately 195 × 135 mm), pp. 111, [3], paperback illustrated in black and white from a drawing by the Author; titles on the cover in red and black, spine with titles in black. Frontispiece printed in red and black.

Important copy with autograph dedication by Ottone Rosai, an element that considerably increases its bibliographic and collectible interest.

The book of a hoodlum constitutes Rosai's literary debut and stems from the artist's experience in the Great War. The text, of a strongly autobiographical and diary-like character, conveys with direct and personal language his military experience and life at the front. The work is considered one of the most significant texts in Rosai's literary output.

The volume is also preserved together with the rare pamphlet Sulla pittura, printed by the Galleria d'Arte L’Indiano of Florence, an important Florentine exhibition space tied to the critical fortune and promotion of Rosai's work. The L’Indiano Gallery, directed by Piero Santi, played a significant role in the Florentine artistic milieu of the postwar period; archival documentation confirms the gallery’s relationship with Rosai's work.