1957

A great novel and a great Soviet-Russian novelist were at the the centre of a publishing event with clamorous political implications. The year before Feltrinelli had displayed some interest in the fate and difficulties of real socialism, publishing texts on parties and States in Eastern Europe. But, by publishing Il dottor Zivago by Boris Pasternak, acquiring also the world copyright, Feltrinelli made a choice that was not only political but also the foreshadowing of a future notoriety that was to place the publishing house at the centre of international attention.

Il dottor Zivago, the Russian edition of which was banned in the URSS but published by Feltrinelli shortly afterwards, was eventually translated and published in twenty-six countries. In 1958, Boris Pasternak, hounded by the hostile Soviet authorities and expelled from the Writers' Association, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature, which he was forced to forego. Boris Pasternak andwith Irina and Olga  (left). This photograph was sent to the Italian Publisher by way of introduction. Giangiacomo Feltrinelli, in return, sent a photo of himself. However, they never met personally.

A little experiment destined to have an important future was made in 1957: the opening of a Feltrinelli Bookshop in Pisa (the photo was taken at the re-inauguration in 1963). The Publisher himself can be seen and Inge Feltrinelli, on her right is Valerio Bertini, one of Feltrinelli's authors, manager of the Florence Bookshop and a leading figure in the promotion of the Feltrinelli Bookshops. This was a new conception of bookshops. For the first time the reader had access to the bookshelves and could choose his book himself. After the experiment in Pisa the first Feltrinelli Bookshops were opened in Milan (one in 1957 and another in 1961) followed by others, Genova (1959) and