Penguin Press buys Italian designer's 'colour bible'

Penguin Press will publish a "colour bible" from Rome-based designer Riccardo Falcinelli following successful publication in Italy.

Casiana Ionita, editorial director at Penguin Press, bought world English language rights to Cromorama for Penguin paperback original publication in spring 2021. Ionita negotiated the deal with from Sandra Pareja at Casanovas & Lynch Literary Agency on behalf of Pietrosanti Agenzia Letteraria.

Falcinelli is a designer who has worked with many Italian publishers, such as Einaudi, Laterza and Carocci, and teaches at the ISIA Design Institute in Rome. Cromorama is described by Penguin Press as "a delightful exploration of how we think about colour, drawing on an extraordinary range of references, from Emma Bovary to the 'Beauty and the Beast', Goethe to Hayao Miyazaki, pencils to high fashion".

The publisher said: "Cromorama was published in 2017 in Italy, where it has sold more than 45,000 copies, continuing to be very successful and influential as a new colour bible."