Umberto Saba (1883-1957)

Letters sent from Umberto Saba (original surname Poli, 1883-1957). Trieste poet, prose-writer and antiquarian bookseller of Jewish origin. His first collection of poems, 'Poesie' (Poems), was published in 1910. In 1919 Saba purchased an antiquarian bookshop in Trieste; in 1938 he had to leave it for some years after the promulgation of racist laws. In 1921 he self-published the first edition of his comprehensive collection of poems 'Canzoniere' (Songbook); successive editions, revised and enlarged, followed. Saba wrote various works of poetry, narrative, and critical essays, included the autobiographical and self-critical book 'Storia e cronistoria del Canzoniere' (History and Chronicle of the Songbook, 1948). He spent his the last period of his life in a clinic, due to the aggravation of the nervous disorder that had afflicted him throughout his life. (Sources: Internet Culturale, Encyclopaedia Britannica).