Superior and Inferior. Conversations Among Girls at Middle School

A series of smart design decisions transform this new Italian-English edition of Carla Accardi’s 1972 feminist text into a reader that is as precious as it is practical. The artist was dismissed from her position as a middle-school teacher after holding in-class discussions about how girls face greater societal challenges than boys, and documenting stories from the girls’ daily lives. In her defence, she published this book, which opens with her official dismissal letter and then continues over more than 100 pages with conversations she held with the girls in her classes. The design of this new bilingual edition is enhanced by a page-by-page inclusion of the original in facsimile form, so that to a certain extent this constitutes two books in one. As the new book is slightly larger, the facsimiles of the original pages (in the first part) are surrounded by a white border, with the original paper represented 121 by a fine pattern of lines behind the text. The English translation (in the second part) makes greater use of the page space, and through the use of a larger sans-serif typeface, not yet in existence in 1972, it communicates its historical distance from the original. A similar strategy is also used with the covers, where due to the altered size of the book there is a white border around the facsimile, both front and back, which is then superimposed with explanatory text in the newer sans-serif typeface in gold. While the object as a whole seems to subtly choreograph the idea of a book revival, it is not a mere design exercise; rather it emphasises the importance of the contents, which are still particularly relevant.

Editors
Ilaria Bombelli, Milano (IT); Bennett Bazalgette-Staples, Roma (IT)

Author
Carla Accardi (1924–2014)

Design
Sabo Day, Amsterdam (NL)/Zürich (CH)

Printing
Grafiche Antiga, Milano (IT)

Publisher
Crackers, Milano (IT)

ISBN
979-12-9850-511-7