Isbn Edizioni is a publishing house based in Milan. Established in 2004 as an imprint of Il Saggiatore Publishing Group, Isbn Edizioni has been completely independent since 2009.
Its editorial focus stems from the idea that there is a generation of readers, thirty-something, whose conception of “cultural object” is far wider than that of their parents: they are curious and open-minded; they don’t have fixed models with which they judge reality and with which they feel comfortable; they aren’t heavy readers but they consume culture without prejudice. For this, books have to be seen through new eyes, with new and complex means that are completely different from the artificial categories of high or low culture.
Isbn proves that it is still possible to be independent, to do high-quality books. The aim of Isbn is to publish books with complex, interesting ideas and try the best it can to sell them —not the reverse; selling a lot of books no matter what they are. We first look for good books—and then it’s our job to make them work. Isbn gives great attention to the look of its books—that’s why we spent a whole year during the start-up to find an idea that best matches our philosophy. Our books—with no cover images, all white, the edges colored in different ways according to the different lists we have—are classical and radically new at the same time.