Overview

• The veteran journalist, 85, says he needs cash because TV and other offers stopped and his savings are scant.
• The collection includes prized first editions by authors such as Pavese, Calvino, Gadda, Sciascia, Moravia, Montale and Ungaretti.
• Part of the holdings has already been transferred to the Milan bookseller Pontremoli, according to accounts cited by Corriere della Sera.
• He plans to issue a catalogue for the sale and describes the choice as a painful necessity.
• He will keep a few irreplaceable volumes, notably three books by Italo Svevo along with works by Umberto Saba and Carlo Dossi, while his steady work is a weekly column for Il Foglio.