by Stephen Heyman

The Paris Review once described Roberto Calasso, 74, as a "literary institution of one." The author of more than 12 books on everything from Kafka to Indian mythology, he's also a translator, a rare book collector, and the majority owner and longtime publisher of Adelphi Edizioni, among Italy's most esteemed, and unpredictable, publishing houses.

Adelphi specializes in what others overlook, bringing together underappreciated literary titans like Robert Walser alongside fantasy novels, Tibetan religious texts and popular books on animal behavior. How a publishing house can unite such disparate things, and not go bankrupt, is the subject of Mr. Calasso's new memoir, "The Art of the Publisher," which comes out this week in Britain and the United States. 

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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/