A History of Western Philosophy.
And Its Connection with Political and Social Circumstances from the Earliest Times to the Present Day.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1945 Stock Code: 133952
A near-fine copy, especially scarce in the dust jacket
First edition, first printing, of Russell's expansive account of the history of philosophy, ranging from the Orphism of ancient Greece to the logical positivism of the author's present day. The present printing precedes the first UK edition published by George Allen and Unwin Ltd by a year and is far scarcer, particularly in the dust jacket.A History of Western Philosophy was a triumph of his populist craft and is perhaps Russell's most famous book. Written during the Second World War, Russell's project was in part conceived to explain to his audience the exact nature of the "civilisation" for which they were fighting. Appropriately, under the heading "About the appearance of books in wartime" on the copyright page, there are sixteen lines of text explaining the measures taken to save paper in accordance with the recent War Production Board ruling, including the choice of thin wove paper to reduce overall bulk, and to print smaller margins and more words per page.
Description
Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in gilt, title across blue ground, Russell's signature stamped in gilt to front board, brown endpapers, top edge stained blue. With the dust jacket.
Illustrations
Title page printed in black and blue.
Condition
Contemporary gift inscription to front pastedown, dated Christmas 1945. A near-fine copy, with some light shelfwear, book block fore edge foxed, in the very good dust jacket, spine faded, panels browned, with some creases, chipping, and short closed tears to extremities.
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