Dissertatio de Ratione Status in Imperio nostro Romano-Germanico. In qua, tum quali suam reverà (sic) in eo Status sit; tum, quae Ratio Status observanda quidem, sed magno cum Patriae Libertatis detrimento, neglecta huousqu (sic); fuerit; tum denique, quibusnam mediis antiquus Status restaurari ac firmari possit, dilucide explicatur. Autore Hippolito à Lapide.

Alessandro Soave established the Soave Antiquarian Bookshop in 1937 at the close of a long and diversified experience which began in the office of his well-known Turin stock-broker father. Then, after the Great War, in which he served as the commanding officer of mountain artillery battery, he was a barrister at the Turin Bar. In 1921, Alessandro left Italy and, thanks to the considerable independent means provided by his family, he embarked on a successful artistic career as a sculptor; first, in the “roaring twenties”, with a studio, in Berlin, and in the Thirties he moved on to Montparnasse. These periods were interspersed with spells in Turin for exhibitions with his friends and famous Italian artists Menzio and Spazzapan.

Alessandro Soave passed away in 1957. The bookshop closed its activity for a while but was reopened by his wife, Elena Médail, a literature teacher in Turin Lyceums. Elena was the daughter of Turin Prefect Enrico Médail, the nephew of Giuseppe Francesco Médail, the man who conceived the Frejus Railway Tunnel under the French-Italian Alps.

Emilio Soave, Alessandro’s son, while still an arts undergraduate at Turin University, began helping his mother in the bookshop. Under the guiding hand of mentor Marino Parenti, the well-known Florentine bibliophile and bibliographer, Emilio started the publication of a series of small but refined catalogues of antiquarian books, which, over the years, began appearing more regularly.

Emilio’s copious and well-documented dissertation entitled The Typographic Industry in Piedmont from the beginning of the 18th century to King Charles Albert’s Statute was later published in a large volume by Gribaudi. This dissertation was then followed by a series of essays and research papers in the field of contemporary history and a spell as a lecturer at Turin University. In the early-1970s Emilio’s elder brother joined the bookshop. Vittorio had worked in the engineering industry for a number of local companies. Vittorio then moved on to London, where he married and worked as a civil servant. He then moved to Paris to work for a French bank. On his return to Italy he worked as a translator for the leading publishers, Einaudi, and also taught civil law and economics in an Accountancy School. With Vittorio’s arrival, the bookshop slowly changed from a part-time hobby of the founder into a solid commercial concern, which enjoyed a good reputation for the reliability and scholarship of its owners and the publication of a series of catalogues in the fields of economics and social sciences, mathematics and physics, and on such monographic works as The History of the Waldenses, Piedmont between the French Revolution and Napoleonic Rule, The 1821 Piedmontese Revolution, The Jacobite Period in the Kingdom of Sardinia, De Occulta Philosophia, De Societate Jesu, and so on.

Vittorio Soave was appointed for two four-year terms as President of ALAI (the Italian Booksellers’ Association) which he boosted by providing it with a proper administrative frame and furthering its national and international visibility through the 1986 ILAB Congress and Book Fair in Venice. Whilst Vittorio was in office, ALAI joined the first Turin Salone del Libro (Book Fair) and in 1995 the first Antiquarian Book Fair in Florence. Vittorio Soave also served on the Board of the ILAB Committee from 1988 to 1992.

If you are a consumer you can withdraw from the contract in accordance with the following. Consumer means any natural person who is acting for purposes which are outside his trade, business, craft or profession.

Information regarding the right of withdrawal

Statutory right to withdraw

You have the right to withdraw from this contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period will expire after 14 days from the day on which you acquire, or a third party other than the carrier and indicated by you acquires, physical possession of the last good or the last lot or piece.

To exercise the right of withdrawal, electronically fill in and submit a clear statement on our website, under "My Purchases" in "My Account". We will communicate to you an acknowledgement of receipt of such a withdrawal on a durable medium (e.g. by e-mail) without delay.

To meet the withdrawal deadline, it is sufficient for you to send your communication concerning your exercise of the right of withdrawal before the withdrawal period has expired.

Effects of withdrawal

If you withdraw from this contract, we will reimburse to you all payments received from you, including the costs of delivery (except for the supplementary costs arising if you chose a type of delivery other than the least expensive type of standard delivery offered by us).

We may make a deduction from the reimbursement for loss in value of any goods supplied, if the loss is the result of unnecessary handling by you.

We will make the reimbursement without undue delay, and not later than 14 days after the day on which we are informed about your decision to withdraw from this contract.

We will make the reimbursement using the same means of payment as you used for the initial transaction, unless you have expressly agreed otherwise; in any event, you will not incur any fees as a result of such reimbursement.

We may withhold reimbursement until we have received the goods back, or you have supplied evidence of having sent back the goods, whichever is the earliest.

You shall send back the goods or hand them over to LIBRERIA ANTIQUARIA SOAVE, TORINO - TO, Italy, +39 3482636376, without undue delay and in any event not later than 14 days from the day on which you communicate your withdrawal from this contract to us. The deadline is met if you send back the goods before the period of 14 days has expired. You will have to bear the direct cost of returning the goods. You are only liable for any diminished value of the goods resulting from the handling other than what is necessary to establish the nature, characteristics and functioning of the goods.

Exceptions to the right of withdrawal

The right of withdrawal does not apply to:

1. The delivery of newspapers, journals or magazines with the exception of subscription contracts; and
2. The supply of digital content which is not supplied on a tangible medium (e.g. on a CD or DVD) if you accepted when you placed your order that we could start to deliver it, and that you could not withdraw once delivery had started.