Italian affairs - Books



"non c'e niente che possa prendere da voi fuorché una coscienza inquieta..." There are several books published in italian about Bob Dylan. Most of them are easy to find in any good bookstore or music shop. Some of them were published several times so different versions exist. This page would be the first help to let you find the book you're looking for. If you have other books, different versions please drop me a note.


Tarantula Published originally in 1973 Tarantula was re-published in 1996 by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore S.p.a. This masterpiece of poetry was translated by Andrea D'Anna
ISBN: 88-04-41425-1

La Biografia
by Anthony Scaduto
Published originally in 1972 the Scaduto's biography was reprinted 4 times. The last one was in 1986 by the Arcana Editrice.
ISBN: 88-85008-45-3

Vita e Musica di
Bob Dylan
by Robert Shelton
The original title was: "No Direction Home: The Life And Music Of Bob Dylan. The first italian version was published in 1987. Paola Merla did the translation. By the way the version showed here is the first version. Now you'll find a different version, printed in 1989, in the bookstores.
ISBN: 88-07-81097-2

Jokerman
by Clinton Heylin
The Italian version of Behind The Shades by Clinton Heylin. It has some different pictures inside from the collection of Paolo Vites who edit the book.

Bob Dylan - La Repubblica Invisibile
by Greil Marcus
Italian translation of "The Invisible Rupublic"
Arcana, 220 pages

Bob Dylan
Mr.Tambourine
Tutte le canzoni e le poesie vol. 1-3
In 1990 finally Tito Schipa Jr. and the Arcana Editrice published these 3 books that are the translation of "Lyrics 1962-1985" For the first time all the lyrics were translated in italian. The 1st book covered the years from 1962 up to 1964, the second 1965-1971 and the 3th 1972-1985
ISBN: 88-85859-93-3
ISBN: 88-85859-69-0

Blues Ballate e Canzoni In 1987 another lyrics book was re-published. First published in 1972, it covered the best songs (blues, ballads...) from the first album up to New Morning. There's an introduction by Fernanda Pivano a writer and a friend of most of the beat poets. The songs were translated by Stefano Pizzo. Published by Newton. This book was reprinted in 1992 too.

My Back Pages
The Bob Dylan's Lyrics
1981-1991
released & unreleased
Edited and Compiled by Mr. Mojo Risin' and privately released this book gave the possibility to find the lyrics up to 1991 including many covers sung by Bob Dylan during those years. Even if there are some translation mistakes this book is the only one that cover songs up to Under The Red Sky

Bob Dylan
Profeta, poeta, musicista e mito
This hard-to-find hardback book was published in 1980. It's the translation of the Alan Rinzler's book: "Bob Dylan: The Illustrated Record" It covers the albums up to Planet Waves providing many nice unreleased pictures. Translated by Massimo Villa and published by Sologno

Stories From A Never Ending Concert
by Paolo Vites
Paolo Vites up to several years ago published an Italian fanzine called "Rolling Thunder". In 1994 he wrote this book offering a series of reflections about the Never Ending Tour and it's packed with very attractive photos. Penguin's Editions

Canzoni D'Amore e di Protesta
by Stefano Rizzo
It contains the songs not included in "Blues Ballate e Canzoni", covering the same period (from the first album up to "New Morning"
Newton Compton Italiana 1972, 222 pages.

Dylanania,
Bob Dylan racconta Bob Dylan
by Chris Williams
Italian version of "In His Own Words"
Rock Books Gammalibri 1993, 150 pages

Folk Canzoni e Poesie
by Alessandro Roffeni
It contains all the songs written by BD up to 1977 and non included in the two books by S. Rizzo, and moreover the liner notes of the albums up to "Joan Baez in Concert, Part 2", and finally "Advice for Geraldine on Her Miscellaneous Birthday". It includes a chronology and an essential bibliography up to 1977.
Newton Compton 1978, english/italian, 319 pages

Tutte Le Canzoni (1973-1980)
by Marina Morbiducci e Massimo Scarafoni.
Complete lyrics of all the songs appeared in official albums, from "Pat Garret..." up to "Saved". It includes a chronology, official discography (up to 1980), filmography, a bibliographic guide, and an appendix titled "Conversazione con Alessandro Portelli".
Lato Side 1980, english/italian, 258 pages

Dylan, Interviste Cronache e Saggi dal 1962 al 1984
A collection of essays written on Bob Dylan, historical notes and three interviews.
Arcana Editrice 1985, 161 pages

Bob Dylan
Dal Mito Alla Storia
by Nemesio Ala
The subtitle state that this is the first European historical-critique biography! It's useless to say that this is not true. By the way the first part up to the 1966 is interesting but then the quality falls. In 1984 was published another editon more expensive.
Savelli Editori 1980, 204 pages

Le Risposte Nel Vento In Formato Poster
by Guarnaccia, Tettamanti, Ottaviano
It wanted to be the cartoon biography of Bob Dylan. ...for completists.
1980, 72 pages, hardback

Dylan S.P.A Did you think that Dylan was a great artist, perhaps a genius and for sure a great songwriter? Well this book try to demonstrate the opposite. It state even that in '78 Dylan went on tour with The Rolling Thunder Revue. Forget it.
Stampa Alternativa, Bertani Editore, 46 pages

Bob Dylan
"Ballata"
More or less it's nothing more than another reissue of "In His Own Words"
edited by Betty Shapiro - Edizioni Blues Brothers

There are several other books printed in Italy but I can't provide you a description and all the information I wrote for the books above, so I'll just give you the list of these books. Please if you know them, let me know!.







constructed and maintained by: Giulio Molfese - EDLIS Italian Affairs agent


Back to the Italian Agency