Written in Stone – Minerals Collected and Described by Roger Caillois
Written in Stone – Minerals Collected and Described by Roger Caillois / with texts by Carlo Ossola, Stefano Salis, Marguerite Yourcenar, and Francois Farges / ISBN 9791280294203 / 150-page hardcover, 9 x 13 inches, published in 2024 by Franco Maria Ricci editore
A deluxe publication featuring the collection behind Caillois’ book The Writing of Stones (covered a few times on my various websites). Not long for this world and highly recommended.
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Never-before-seen photographs of Roger Caillois’ collection of semiprecious stones
Even though they belong to the mineral kingdom, the stones in the collection of the French writer Roger Caillois appear miraculously similar to works of art. Beginning from this mysterious but captivating link between two such apparently distant universes, the book collects a carefully curated selection of the finest stones in the collection and recounts the life of Caillois (sociologist, member of the surrealist movement…), reviewing and presenting his essays on stones. The persona and the personality of this atypical 20th-century intellectual emerge from the essay by Stefano Salis, who introduces us to Caillois’ world and that of Marguerite Yourcenar, who took his place in the Académie de France after his death with a speech reviewing his life and work. The literary critic Carlo Ossola traces the outlines of the cultural climate in which Caillois lived and operated, while François Farges, now in charge of the collection, illustrates it in the final essay.
