Back of History
by William Dean Howells (1837-1920)
- Used
- very good
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Very Good/About very good
- Seller
-
Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
383 pages with illustrations, diagrams, maps, figures, drawings and index. Octavo (8 1/2" x 5 1/2") bound in original publisher's beige cloth with green label to spine with gilt lettering and pictorial bison to cover in original jacket. First edition. Ruth Moore's Man, Time and Fossils (Knopf-P. 603) opened the avenue of interest in man's evolution to many laymen. Now Dr. Howells uses another approach, presenting what he terms a digestive interpretation and condensation, skillfully bypassing professional terminology, footnotes, discussion of theoretical differences, to produce a readable book on a popular level. Man's story, he claims, begins with the Primates, and we are introduced to baboon, howler, gibbon and chimp societies. Man, however, is distinct in having culture, not inherited biologically. He then turns to the study of cultures:- Stone Age and first trace of man; the hunters, the farmers of the Neolithic. The organization of society, the place of religion, the effect of inventions. After an excursion to the New World and the problematical question of immigration and Indian civilization, he turns to the Bronze Age, and the growing dominion of city-states- foretaste of eventual emergence of world government. The use of the ethnological present tense at various points in the time spectrum adds to narrative quality but sometimes confuses us chronologically. The book has humor and often fascination and more popular appeal than Lewinsohn's Animals Men and Myths. Condition: Spine extremities rubbed, spine lettering rubbed. Jacket spine extremities chipped, corners chipped, some edge chips and tears else very good in about very good jacket.
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Details
- Bookseller
- The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA (US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- BOOKS001129
- Title
- Back of History
- Author
- William Dean Howells (1837-1920)
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Very Good
- Jacket Condition
- About very good
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Edition
- First
- Publisher
- Doubleday & Company
- Place of Publication
- New York
- Date Published
- 1954
- Weight
- 0.00 lbs
- Bookseller catalogs
- Anthropology;
- Size
- Octavo
Terms of Sale
The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA
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About the Seller
The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA
Biblio member since 2005
Fort Worth, Texas
About The Book Collector ABAA, ILAB, TBA
The Book Collector specializes in the finest collections of Chess, Anthropology, Americana and American Literature. Visit our website at www.bookcollectorshop.com
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- First Edition
- In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Jacket
- Sometimes used as another term for dust jacket, a protective and often decorative wrapper, usually made of paper which wraps...