The Art of Worldly Wisdom.

Boston, MA Shambhala , 2004. Hardcover First Edition Thus (2004), so stated. First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. First Edition Thus (2004), so stated. First Printing indicated by a complete numerical sequence. Near Fine in Fine DJ: Book shows a single page creased at the lower corner, right at the tip; a former owner's gift inscription in gilt ink at the front free endpaper; else flawless; the binding is square and secure; the text is clean. Free of any underlining, hi-lighting or marginalia or marks in the text. A handsome, nearly-new copy, structurally sound and tightly bound, showing a couple of imperfections. Bright and clean. Corners sharp. Very close to "As New". A lovely little volume. The DJ is flawless; price unclipped; mylar-protected. Virtually 'As New'. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 12mo. (7.15 x 4.6 x 0.9 inches). xxv, 185 pages. Adapted from the translations of Joseph Jacobs. Introduction by Willis Barnstone. Language; English. Weight: 9.5 ounces. Cream cloth over boards with gilt titles on black bands at the front panel and backstrip. Gold silk marker sewn in. Shambhla Library Series. Hardback with DJ. Baltasar Gracián y Morales, S.J. (1601 –1658) was a Spanish Jesuit and baroque prose writer and philosopher. He was born in Belmonte, near Calatayuda municipality in the Province of Zaragoza, within Aragón, Spain, lying on the river Jalón and in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. Gracián is the most representative writer of the Spanish Baroque literary style known as Conceptismo (Conceptism), of which he was the most important theoretician. Gracián's writing style is characterized by ellipsis and the concentration of a maximum of significance in a minimum of form, an approach referred to in Spanish as agudeza (wit), and which is brought to its extreme in the Oráculo Manual y Arte de Prudencia (literally Manual Oracle and Art of Discretion, commonly translated as The Art of Worldly Wisdom), which is almost entirely composed of three hundred maxims with commentary. He constantly plays with words: each phrase becomes a puzzle, using the most diverse rhetorical devices. The appeal of the book has endured; it continues to inspire new translations which have earned a wide readership. His writings have been highly regarded by the likes of Schopenhauer and Nietzsche.