# Is "The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount" by Italo Calvino a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount by Italo Calvino (Random House, 1962) is identified by: Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun. First English-language publication of the two novellas in one volume (Il visconte dimezzato, 1952; Il cavaliere inesistente, 1959).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun
- US Random House first edition, 1962, collating 246 pages plus a one-page author biography
- The Random House first is bound in black cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine and decorated in blue and gilt, and issued in a pictorial dust jacket bearing a printed price on the front flap (a first-state jacket should retain that printed price)
- A UK Collins edition also appeared in 1962
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Italo Calvino |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun. US Random House first edition, 1962, collating 246 pages plus a one-page author biography. The Random House first is bound in black cloth, lettered in gilt on the spine and decorated in blue and gilt, and issued in a pictorial dust jacket bearing a printed price on the front flap (a first-state jacket should retain that printed price). A UK Collins edition also appeared in 1962.

## Is this the true first?
First English-language publication of the two novellas in one volume (Il visconte dimezzato, 1952; Il cavaliere inesistente, 1959). The US Random House and UK Collins editions are both dated 1962 and are essentially concurrent; precedence between them is not firmly established. The pair was later collected with The Baron in the Trees as Our Ancestors.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A book-club issue is distinguished by the absence of a printed jacket price and a blind-embossed mark to the rear board, not by any stamp on the true first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Nonexistent Knight & The Cloven Viscount* by Italo Calvino a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-nonexistent-knight-the-cloven-viscount
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.