Van Loon's Lives : Being a true and faithful account of a number of highly interesting meetings with certain historical personages, from Confucius and Plato to Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson

New York: Simon & Schuster. 1942. Large octavo size [16x24cm approx]. Very Good condition in Good Dustjacket - now protected in our purpose-made plastic sleeve. Price clipped DJ is chipped at edges with age-toning to spine and edges. Full page colour and black & white illustrations by the author. xxii, 886 pages. Full subtitle: "Being a true and faithful account of a number of highly interesting meetings with certain historical personages, from Confucius and Plato to Voltaire and Thomas Jefferson, about whom we had always felt a great deal of curiosity and who came to us as our dinner guests in a bygone year." The author a notable Dutch American historian and writer wrote this, somewhat whimsical book, consising of biographies of various famous historical characters often pairing together characters from different times and places whose life, careers or personalities seemed to Van Loon to bear a similarity to each other The author and his childhood friend Frits summon the famous (and sometimes infamous) great men and women of history to come to dinner. Each chapter generally starts with Van Loon describing the lives of the people invited that week, with many digressions and idiosyncratic comments, opinions and comparisons with actual 20th century events. The interaction with modern people (in 1930s Netherlands) results in polite and intellectually stimulating conversations, and in other cases leads to humorous or hilarious results. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. . 1st Edition. Hardback.