HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY: And its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day
London: George Allen and Unwin, 1946. FIRST EDITION. Hardcover with Dust Jacket. [4], 5-916 pp. 8vo, grey heather cloth, yellow lettering on maroon stamped label panels. A bit of toning around the extremities, light foxing typical of “Wartime Standard” paper, owner’s name to FFEP. Otherwise clean, fresh, tight and square with little evidence of use. A nice copy.
Apart from the landmark, if a bit idiosyncratic, survey of philosophy, the dust jacket is the real star of this show. With post-war paper production yet to outstrip demand of the glut of new publications, good paper was not to be discarded, even if already printed on one side. The Unwin brothers here made use of surplus war-time maps of the continent for Russel’s dust jackets, making each copy of the first edition uniquely bound to the time and place of its publication. This wrapper is backed by a slice of the greater Düsseldorf map running from Münster through Dortmund to Solingen. It shows a bit of short creasing to head and tail of spine, price clipped, clean and sharp otherwise in mylar wrap. NEAR FINE / VERY GOOD. Item #1192
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