First Edition: 280 pages, numerous black and white illustrations, beautifully printed at the Cambridge University press on smooth twin wire paper, red cloth titled gilt on the spine, a very good copy in the dust jacket.
From the original prospectus issued by Cassell & Company:
'The Invention of printing with movable type, by Johann Gutenberg of Mainz in the fifth decade of the fifteenth century, was crucial to the whole evolution of western civilization during the ensuing five hundred years. For the printing press furnished the means of repeatable precision of text and the capacity for the mass circulation of ideas.
'In this volume will be found full descriptions of books etc. which, for the ideas that they brought to the world for the first time, are of prime importance to the mind of man. New concepts in philosophy, religion and politics, in economics, jurisprudence, education and sociology; new ideas in historiography and linguistics, in the arts and architecture; new discoveries in natural history, geography, the sciences, medicine and technology: here, under 424 entries (some of them multiple), is the essential documentation of their first appearance in print. Aquinas, Pascal and Freud, Copernicus, Newton and Einstein, here are the decisive battles against ignorance and darkness in the history of mankind.
'The descriptive formula is designed for the accurate identification of the entry, and no more: the editors have aimed at precision without pedantry. Bibliographical references are supplied where (but only where) necessary. The ample text provides background and perspective as well as analysis and exposition. Each entry has been written by a specialist; but each has been scrutinized and revised by the six members of the editorial board, and many also by outside experts, before reaching its final form. The book will thus appeal not only to scholars, students and librarians, book-collectors and booksellers, but to every general reader who is, or can be, interested in the history of ideas, and their impact not only on the development of western civilization but on his own thoughts and actions every day of his life.
'No such comprehensive and at the same time detailed conspectus of the impact of printing on the mind of western man has ever before been attempted. The combined experience and authority of its compilers, with their outside specialists, will be sufficient guarantee that the standards of factual accuracy, reliable commentary and balanced judgement demanded by so ambitious a project have been faithfully met.'
- Overall Condition: Very good
- Size: Folio (320 x 220 mm)
