Essedì Editrice was a short-lived Italian publishing house based in Rome, created specifically to publish Lisetta Carmi’s landmark 1972 photobook I travestiti after other publishers had declined it. The imprint was established by Sergio Donnabella for this single publication, which documented the transvestite community of Genoa’s former Jewish ghetto through Carmi’s photographs and texts by Carmi and psychoanalyst Elvio Fachinelli.[1]
Design and History
The visual identity of Essedì Editrice is documented primarily through the design of its sole publication, I travestiti (1972). The book’s graphic layout was handled by Giancarlo Iliprandi, a Milanese graphic designer and art director whose career included work for Agip, Rai, La Rinascente, Pirelli, Olivetti and Eni, as well as art direction for magazines such as Popular Photography Italiana and Abitare.[2] Iliprandi is credited with the montage and layout of the volume, while Floriana Sciarpa handled the graphic design and Luciano D’Alessandro provided editorial consultancy.[3]
The book itself was described as a “pink book halfway between an art book and an investigative book,” featuring a 16-page insert on thin pink paper reproducing photographs and typewritten letters sent to Carmi by her subjects.[3][4] The publication caused scandal at the time, with many bookstores refusing to sell it.[4]
Because Essedì Editrice was created specifically for this one publication, no separate or later visual identity program has been documented. The imprint’s identity is therefore inseparable from the design of I travestiti itself, which has been cited in Martin Parr and Gerry Badger’s The Photobook: A History (volume I, p. 228).[3]
Meaning and Symbolism
No documented symbolism has been found for a distinct Essedì Editrice logo or publisher’s mark. The name “Essedì” itself appears to be a phonetic rendering of the initials “S.D.,” matching the publisher Sergio Donnabella, though this connection is not explicitly confirmed in available sources. The visual identity of the imprint is best understood through the design choices made for I travestiti, which combined an art-book format with an investigative documentary approach, using pink paper inserts as a distinctive material element.[3][4]
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