Italy was the first country to release Matheson's novel in hardcover, just three years after it debuted as a Gold Medal paperback original in the United States.
The cover art, by Ray Johnson, isn't exactly what you would expect to see on a novel about the last man alive in a world of vampires. If you think it might have been better served on the cover of one of Gold Medal's more common crime titles, well...
It didn't take me too long to track down the original appearance of the Johnson artwork on Norbert Fagan's One Against the Odds (Gold Medal #382), which had been published a few months prior to I Am Legend (Gold Medal #417) in 1954. That fact led me to wonder if Gold Medal had perhaps sent Longanesi the wrong cover art for the book. One thing I haven't seen is another book from Longanesi using Meltzoff's I Am Legend painting on the cover (and yes, I've searched for it). Whatever the cause of what I have to assume was an error, I'm thrilled to have both this edition and Norbert Fagan's Gold Medal paperback (with the I Am Legend cover painting) in the archive.
Its significance as the first world hardcover edition of the novel (the first English language hardcover edition was still 13 years away at thus point) cannot be understated.
It's also worth noting that the title of this first Italian translation, I Vampiri (The Vampires) was also used in 1957 on the Italian horror film directed by Riccardo Freda. The book's specific release date is unknown, but I imagine it followed the April release of the film.
I Vampiri remained the title of record for subsequent Italian editions released in 1972 (hardcover and paperback), 1989, 1991, and 1993. It wasn't until 1996 when Italian editions switched to the literal translation of 'I Am Legend' with Io Sono Leggenda (which, going back to 1957, was always the last line in the novel).
Come back next week for another unique specimen from the I Am Legend Archive!
