In the first issue of the IGS Newsletter (March, 1992), I described the nature and extent of the first published volume of the Bibliografia gramsciana (Rome: Ed. Riuniti, 1991. Pp. xxiii-457). I also indicated the availability of a substantial supplement to that volume. In the second issue of the Newsletter (March, 1993), I asserted that I had just completed the first "official" supplement to the Bibliografia gramsciana. I can now report that I was much too optimistic! We soon discovered that many publications, both in Italy and in other countries had not yet been included. The co-editor of volume two is Anna Luisa Righi of the Fondazione Istituto Gramsci in Rome. Through her we were able to obtain invaluable aid from other Gramsci Institutes in Italy, especially those in Turin and Bologna. I found access to several new data bases, and we had new and invaluable assistance from a number of scholars and activists in various countries. Satoe Kawakami, to name an extraordinary example, added literally hundreds of titles to our list of Japanese writings and made dozens of corections to those we already had.
In any case, volume two has now been completed and will be published in June of 1995. The work contains about 3400 entries including a few publications in four languages (Albanian, Korean, Norwegian, and Sardinian) not included in the Bibliografia gramsciana. About 46% of the entries, surprisingly enough, consist of publications which appeared within the years comprised in the original Bibliografia gramsciana (1922-1988), but were not therein included.
The total number of entries for both the Bibliografia gramsciana and volume two is now more than 10,400 represented by 33 different languages. The quantitative changes in the numbers of publications per year remains proportionately similar to the figures given in the introduction of 1991. Only about 16% of the total number of entries appeared before 1966. Also, when the more recent statistics are considered, the "breakthroughs" in numbers of 1965-69 and of 1975-79 remain as before: In 1965-69 there were a total of 957 publications as compared to 331 in the earlier 5-year period; again in 1975-79 there were 2104 as compared to 1058 in 1970-74. After a decrease in the early 1980s, the number of records published per year has remained rather constant (i.e., at about the same level as that of 1975-79). [END PAGE 13]
With regard to the languages of the collection, those in Italian have fallen slightly from 62% to 58.8% (about 6100 in number), while those in other languages now amount to 41.2% (or about 4300). English remains the most frequent of the other languages with 11.8% (ca. 1200 entries) followed by French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Russian (from 5% o 3% respectively).
In conclusion, we must comment briefly on the nature of the indices and appendices. The most important, the "Index of Names and Subjects by Number of Entry" (pp. xx-xx) is much more detailed and specific than its counterpart in the Bibliografia gramsciana. This, we believe, will greatly enhance the usefulness of the compilation.
There are also several new indices or lists which were not included in the earlier publication. Among them, the "Index of Reviews of Books by and about Gramsci" seems self-explanatory. The "Index of Geographic Places by Name and Entry Number" (pp. xx- xx) refers to countries, regions, and cities where one of two conditions occurred: 1) The entry refers to a geographic entity during a period in which Gramsci lived or therein sojourned; or 2) A concept or "canon of research" derived from Gramsci was applied to the study of the history or nature of that location.
Neither the Bibliografia gramsciana nor this supplement include works by Gramsci himself. Yet they both comprise introductions and prefaces by other persons to these works, writings which in themselves are often very important. Our inclusion in this publication of an "Index of Introductions and Prefaces to Gramsci's Works," provides another kind of important information. Since nearly all of Gramsci's writings, whether in Italian or in translation, are accompanied by some kind of introduction, however breif, this list also serves as an index to all known editions of Gramsci throughout the world. Finally, we have the table called "Frequency of Publications by TYPES," useful because it very quickly supplies the reader with an overview of the number and relative importance of the various forms of publications (books, collections, articles, dissertations, pamphlets, reviews, etc.). In the course of the next few months, we intend to publish indices like the ones described above for the Bibliografia gramsciana itself as well as a list of errata and other changes.
All members of the International Gramsci Society will be informed as soon as Volume 2 appears. As stated above, I expect to see it in June, 1995.