Found a treasure yesterday, I didn’t realise what sort of treasure until I looked at it just now.

As you might be vaguely aware by now I’m studying Year 12 English Literature and we’re looking at Bleak House by Charles Dickens. I’m aware that Dickens is considered one of the greats of English literature, I didn’t realise he was also considered great by the Italians. The book is one in a series of four about The Giants of Literature. This one is about Dickens but the dustjacket also mentions Shakespeare, Kipling and Milton. I just assumed they were written and published in England, when I looked at the copyright information I found I was much mistaken. Originally published in 1968 by Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, Milan this copy is the English Language Edition published in 1977 by Sampson Low.

The bit that really gets me and is something I don’t know how to research is that this looks as if the Italians think these four writers are better than Italian writers, or French writers, or Spanish writers or…you get the idea. Don’t get me wrong, I think three of them are three of the Greats of English Literature, I can’t talk about Milton as I’ve never read his works but I’m sure you’ll find authors in other languages who are just as great.