9 November 2026 · 4 min
Alì Babà never came out, but its file still speaks
A 1968 worksite
Between 1968 and 1972 Calvino, Celati and Ginzburg planned a magazine that never reached the newsstands.
Exteryo Report editorial staff
Today «Riga» 48 publishes materials and correspondence: an archive file that restores the work.
The short answer
The papers of an unpublished project remain, and today they are readable by everyone:
- The datesthe work spans from 1968 to 1972
- Who conceived itItalo Calvino, Gianni Celati, Carlo Ginzburg
- The placematerials and correspondence come out in «Riga» 48, Quodlibet
The short answer
The file preserves the trace of the work, even when the work has not reached the reader.
Why it is not simple
An unreleased magazine seems like a project ended up in the drawer.
There is more.
Why it is not simple
The letters and working materials preserve who thought what and when: they make it possible to reconstruct a worksite after over fifty years, provided the papers have remained together and findable.
Chapter 1 of 4
What remains of an unpublished editorial project?
The worksite
Of a work that does not come out remains its worksite: ideas, letters, drafts.
The worksite
If the file is preserved, the work becomes readable again.
Before moving on
For how many years did the work on the «Alì Babà» project last?
The source
According to il manifesto, in the story of the «Alì Babà» worksite, Calvino, Celati and Ginzburg worked on the project between 1968 and 1972.
The source
The magazine was never published, but the newspaper describes it as a laboratory of critical thinking that rediscovers archetypes and looks at narration in a non-anthropocentric way.
Chapter 2 of 4
How do you reconstruct a working correspondence after decades?
The correspondence
A correspondence is reconstructed when each letter has a sender, a date and a place in the whole.
The sequence
It is the sequence that tells the work.
1 of 3
A sender
2 of 3
A date
3 of 3
A place in the whole
The source
In «Riga» 48, published by Quodlibet, the materials and the correspondence of the project come out together.
il manifesto on the «Alì Babà» correspondence in «Riga» 48 ↗
Note
The source does not describe the method of reordering the papers: we say this for transparency, without adding details we do not know.
The correspondence
Keeping documents and correspondence together allows the reader to follow the ideas over time, from the first exchange to the last.
Chapter 3 of 4
What materials have been recovered and what do we know about them?
Provenance
Every archive is worth more when the provenance is declared.
The source
The publication brings together the working materials and letters of the three creators, according to il manifesto.
Touch the papers
What do we know about these papers?
What do we know about these papers?
In summary
- Period1968-1972
- CreatorsCalvino, Celati, Ginzburg
- Where to read it«Riga» 48, Quodlibet
Provenance
The case shows a principle that also applies outside literature: a document is found and attributed when it has an identity and a history.
Chapter 4 of 4
Why is an unfinished enterprise still useful to read?
The open worksite
An open worksite shows the thought as it forms.
The open worksite
Reading it today restores the choices, not only the result.
The source
Il manifesto presents «Alì Babà» as a fundamental laboratory of critical thinking, told in its materials and correspondence.
il manifesto on «Alì Babà», laboratory of critical thinking ↗
The open worksite
The preserved papers allow us to follow the ideas of Calvino, Celati and Ginzburg step by step.
In a sentence
A magazine may never come out: its file, if it remains intact, reaches the reader anyway.
Exteryo Report
Takeaway
To preserve a project so that it remains readable. Five gestures that make a work findable, even if it never reaches the end.
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Sources
Images and animations: illustrative objects generated with artificial intelligence. They do not depict real objects or documents mentioned in the article.
ExteryoExteryo Report · 9 November 2026