Ugo Guanda - Il piacere d'essere pecora - 1949

Ugo Guanda – The Pleasure of Being a Sheep. Considerations on the Italians – First edition, 1949 – Ex libris Alessandro Pellegrini

Original edition of 1949 of the work The Pleasure of Being a Sheep. Considerations on the Italians, by Ugo Guanda, published in Parma by the publisher U. Guanda.

The pamphlet constitutes number 1 in the series “Aspects of Man,” as indicated on the preliminary page.

It is a polemical and civilly oriented piece, in which Guanda critically reflects on the behavior of Italians, on conformity and the tendency to conform to collective opinions and attitudes.

The text opens from a general strike proclaimed in Parma on March 30, 1949, used by the author as an opportunity to develop some reflections on postwar Italian society, on the sense of individual responsibility, and on solidarity.

Bibliographic data

* Author: Ugo Guanda
* Title: The Pleasure of Being a Sheep. Considerations on the Italians
* Publisher: U. Guanda
* Place: Parma
* Year: 1949
* Series: “Aspects of Man,” no. 1
* Print: Tipografia S.T.E.P., Parma
* Finished printing: 12 April 1949
* Original price: lire 40

Provenance

The copy bears a figurative ex libris by Alessandro Pellegrini, affixed inside the cover, documenting its previous ownership.

Preservation conditions

Copy in the original yellow paperback, with titles and typographic frame in red and black.

Cover in generally good condition, with slight signs of aging. Internally there are yellowing and widespread foxing of the paper, particularly evident in the preliminary and final pages.

The photographs document the actual conditions of the copy.

Original publication of 1949, an interesting testimony of Guanda’s civil thought and intellectual activity, a significant figure in 20th-century Italian publishing. Very rare, it is listed in OPAC for only two copies.