Description
Signed first edition of The Story of Civilization: Caesar and Christ by Will Durant.
Large octavo, xvi, 751pp, [1]. Black cloth, title in gilt on spine, cross and axe in gilt on front board. No additional printings on copyright page. Solid text block, faint foxing to leaf ends, top edge dyed blue, slight toning to maps on endpapers, a near fine copy. In publisher’s dust jacket, $5.00 retail price on rear flap, some wear to corners and edges, sunning to spine, a touch of soiling to back panel, a very good example. This copy is signed by Will Durant on the half-title.
Will Durant (1885-1981) wrote The Story of Civilization series alongside his wife Ariel. This copy is book three of an eleven volume set, which was published between 1935 and 1975. The large collection earned the Durants a Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Gerald Ford in 1977. This series was unique because of the Durants’ desire to present an “integral history” (as they called it), bringing together all aspects of human life into one cohesive set, as opposed to diving too far into one specific subject matter.
