Abstract

The paper investigates the phenomenon of company books in Italy, by exploring the first-hand experience of the professional actors involved in producing and diffusing such corporate and cultural artifacts. In-depth interviews to a group of privileged witnesses and cultural creators aim at focusing several literary genres, approaches and expressive languages in the sector, to discuss the role and meanings that books can play – as a cultural «object» and «ritual», at a time – in the life and communication of contemporary organizations. Experts’ accounts suggest to put in connection variables and trends observed by previous studies in different disciplinary fields and outlining a long-standing publishing tradition from the end of the Nineteenth century to the present, which has been rarely investigated in the context of heritage studies