La secessione della "Sons of Italy Grand Lodge": Studi polemici sui diversi problemi degl'italiani in America; con prefazione del Dr. Ornello Simone [The Secession of the "Sons of Italy Lodge": Polemical Studies on Various Problems of Italians in America, with a preface by Dr. Ornello Simone]. New York: Colamco Press, 1926.
Title
La secessione della "Sons of Italy Grand Lodge": Studi polemici sui diversi problemi degl'italiani in America; con prefazione del Dr. Ornello Simone [The Secession of the "Sons of Italy Lodge": Polemical Studies on Various Problems of Italians in America, with a preface by Dr. Ornello Simone]. New York: Colamco Press, 1926.
Description
This one-of-a-kind 1926 volume tells of the internal struggles of the Sons of Italy during the fascist era about whether to support the fascist regime in Italy. Benanti seems to have been pro-fascist, but see discussion below of his later collaboration with Riccardo Cordiferro.
The work contains discussion of the anti-fascist Fiorella LaGuardia (and farther left Carlo Tresca), Luigi Roversi, Salvatore Cotillo and Arturo Giovannitti. Reference is made to La Follia di New York. Benanti seems to belittle anti-fascists and would-be anti-fascists throughout. He also discusses meetings of the organization in Yonkers, Amsterdam (NY), Buffalo and Star Casino, New York, among other places, and various Italian charitable institutions in New York.
It is an unusually handsomely produced volume, in orange cloth, gold stamped title and author on the cover (though not on the spine).
This copy contains what could be a unique leaf, tipped in to the front free endpaper, with a typewritten (not printed) presentation to His Majesty Vittorio Emmanuele III, King of Italy. Benanti ends his lengthy dedication: "[To You], the author of this book enthusiastically and devotedly offers this work in tribute," followed by a handwritten autograph and "Columbus Day 1926." Examination of other copies will confirm (or not) whether this copy is unique.
Schiavo (1940 version of Italian-American Who's Who, Vol. V, New York: Vigo Press) has an entry of Benanti as author and physician: he was born in Marineo, Palermo, Italy, 1875; in America since 1906; U.S. citizen, 1911. Married to Gilda Olivieri, 1913. Doctor at Long Island College Hospital, 1910. Lists the present work, and Studi critici (see below); the third book of Benanti, 1941, post-dates this entry. There is no entry in either volume of Flamma, though Benanti, as medical doctor, is just the kind of Italian American professional in New York who often appeared in Flamma.
Durante in the original lists this work only. When I edited the bibliography of the American edition of that work, however, I found two other works of his, Studi critici di dinamica sociale. New York: La Follia di New York (1928), with a preface by Riccardo Cordiferro, copies of which are in the Columbia and University of Minnesota libraries and mentioned in Schiavo; and Follie e questioni del giorno. New York: Eugene Printing (1941), which I cannot locate in any library. Neither is in the collection.
That Cordiferro would publish, much less preface a work by Benanti in 1928, when Benanti had only two years before, in the present work, derided anti-fascists, is something of a mystery.
The work contains discussion of the anti-fascist Fiorella LaGuardia (and farther left Carlo Tresca), Luigi Roversi, Salvatore Cotillo and Arturo Giovannitti. Reference is made to La Follia di New York. Benanti seems to belittle anti-fascists and would-be anti-fascists throughout. He also discusses meetings of the organization in Yonkers, Amsterdam (NY), Buffalo and Star Casino, New York, among other places, and various Italian charitable institutions in New York.
It is an unusually handsomely produced volume, in orange cloth, gold stamped title and author on the cover (though not on the spine).
This copy contains what could be a unique leaf, tipped in to the front free endpaper, with a typewritten (not printed) presentation to His Majesty Vittorio Emmanuele III, King of Italy. Benanti ends his lengthy dedication: "[To You], the author of this book enthusiastically and devotedly offers this work in tribute," followed by a handwritten autograph and "Columbus Day 1926." Examination of other copies will confirm (or not) whether this copy is unique.
Schiavo (1940 version of Italian-American Who's Who, Vol. V, New York: Vigo Press) has an entry of Benanti as author and physician: he was born in Marineo, Palermo, Italy, 1875; in America since 1906; U.S. citizen, 1911. Married to Gilda Olivieri, 1913. Doctor at Long Island College Hospital, 1910. Lists the present work, and Studi critici (see below); the third book of Benanti, 1941, post-dates this entry. There is no entry in either volume of Flamma, though Benanti, as medical doctor, is just the kind of Italian American professional in New York who often appeared in Flamma.
Durante in the original lists this work only. When I edited the bibliography of the American edition of that work, however, I found two other works of his, Studi critici di dinamica sociale. New York: La Follia di New York (1928), with a preface by Riccardo Cordiferro, copies of which are in the Columbia and University of Minnesota libraries and mentioned in Schiavo; and Follie e questioni del giorno. New York: Eugene Printing (1941), which I cannot locate in any library. Neither is in the collection.
That Cordiferro would publish, much less preface a work by Benanti in 1928, when Benanti had only two years before, in the present work, derided anti-fascists, is something of a mystery.
Creator
Dr. Salvatore Benanti
Publisher
Colamco Press
Date
1926
Format
26x17cm; 271 p.
Language
Italian
Citation
Dr. Salvatore Benanti, “La secessione della "Sons of Italy Grand Lodge": Studi polemici sui diversi problemi degl'italiani in America; con prefazione del Dr. Ornello Simone [The Secession of the "Sons of Italy Lodge": Polemical Studies on Various Problems of Italians in America, with a preface by Dr. Ornello Simone]. New York: Colamco Press, 1926.,” Italian-Language American Imprints: The Periconi Collection, accessed April 25, 2024, https://italianamericanimprints.omeka.net/items/show/405.
Comments