# Is "Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili)" by Italo Calvino a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili) by Italo Calvino (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1974) is identified by: First US edition and first English-language edition; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1974, translated by William Weaver and issued as a Helen and Kurt Wolff Book. The world first is the Italian 'Le città invisibili' (Einaudi, Turin, 1972).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First US edition and first English-language edition
- Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1974, translated by William Weaver and issued as a Helen and Kurt Wolff Book
- The copyright page credits the Italian original 1972 and this translation 1974, with no statement of a later printing
- Bound in quarter grey buckram with black paper over the boards
- 165 pages
- First-issue dust jacket designed by Arnold Skolnick: a distinctive fragile silver foil jacket that creases very easily, so clean examples are uncommon; the jacket should retain its printed price and be neither price-clipped nor remainder-marked
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Italo Calvino |
| Publisher | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York |
| Year | 1974 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First US edition and first English-language edition |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First US edition and first English-language edition; Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, 1974, translated by William Weaver and issued as a Helen and Kurt Wolff Book. The copyright page credits the Italian original 1972 and this translation 1974, with no statement of a later printing. Bound in quarter grey buckram with black paper over the boards; 165 pages. First-issue dust jacket designed by Arnold Skolnick: a distinctive fragile silver foil jacket that creases very easily, so clean examples are uncommon; the jacket should retain its printed price and be neither price-clipped nor remainder-marked.

## Is this the true first?
The world first is the Italian 'Le città invisibili' (Einaudi, Turin, 1972). The 1974 Harcourt US edition is the first edition in English (Weaver translation), preceding the UK Secker & Warburg edition issued later in 1974.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No true book-club edition is a concern here; later Harcourt and Vintage paperbacks carry full number lines and ISBNs and are reprints, not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Invisible Cities (Le città invisibili)* by Italo Calvino a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/invisible-cities-le-citt-invisibili
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.