Search Results: Ancient History from Wykeham Books

Book Club Associates, London, 1976 reprint edition. Cloth, 8vo,. xvi, 422 pp. The ancient and elaborate civilization, which was first revealed by Schliemann and more fully disclosed by the excavations of Sir Arthur Evans in Crete dating from 1900, is here described for us by Professor Glotz in a style of amazing richness, informed throughout by sound and comprehensive scholarship. This people, who lived so long in luxury and peace, who cultivated the arts with such a highly developed aesthetic sense, who finally passed so much of their heritage to ancient Greece, hold an important place in the history of civilization." - from the blurb. Very Good in a dustwrapper which is very heavily sunned around the spine.

Phillimore, London, new edition, 1977. Printed wrappers, 8vo, 21 cm,. xiv, 335-510 pp. As New.

Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, new edition, 1977. Printed wrappers, 8vo, 21 cm,. xv, 141 pp.. As New.

London, Elek, first edition, 1968. Cloth, 4to, 29 cm,. 208 pp, ills (some colour), plans. From the blurb: "Augustus Caesar - or Octavian as he was known as a young man - was the founder of the great Roman Empire. Nominated by his great-uncle, Julius Caesar, as his heir, he nevertheless had to struggle for supremacy over his uncle's murderers before he became sole ruler of the Roman world, after the defeat of Antony. Dr Earl discusses Octavian's background and his family history and describes the society in which he lived, in an attempt to evaluate the emperor's character and assess the influences which affected him most. The book goes on to discuss the social and political implications which can be drawn from Octavian's rise to power and to show why and how be was able to do what he did. After the constitutional settlements of 27 B.C. and 23 B.C., by which Augustus (the title he had by now been given) retained control of the military forces and of foreign affairs with… Read More

Harvard University Press, Cambridge, first edition, 1962. Cloth, large 8vo,. xx, 540 pp. An index to Festschriften published up to 1954, covering the following subject areas: The Ancient Near East (Egypt, and Asia to India) from the end of the Neolithic (42 Festschriften); The Old Testament including the Septuagint, Apocrypha, and Pseudepigrapha (180); Greece (Minoan Crete, the Aegean, etc.; all islands occupied by Greeks in antiquity) from the end of the Neolithic to 30 B.C., and Rome (all lands dominated by Rome), Italy from the end of the Neolithic, other lands as conquered, to A.D. 330 (768); Roman Law (barbarian codes only incidentally) to A.D. 565 (128); Byzantium (all lands dominated by Constantinople) AD. 330-1453. A mildly ex-library copy with labels on the front free endpaper and verso of the rear free endpaper and tapemarks on the covers and endpapers, otherwise Good.

Book Club Associates, London, 1976 reprint edition. Cloth, 8vo, 25 cm,. ix, 500 pp. From the blurb: "This is the final volume in the series begun by Neville Williams' Chronology of the Modern World 1763-1965 and followed by his Chronology of the Expanding World 1492-1762 and R. L. Storey's Chronology of the Medieval World 800-1491. The arrangement follows as closely as possible that of its predecessors. Each page opening covers a period of time, this in the earlier period being usually a century and later usually a decade. The left-hand page lists political and military events, dated as closely as possible, while the right-hand page is concerned with affairs of the mind, the arts and sciences and births and deaths. This enables each occurrence - whether a battle or a work of sculpture - to be seen in its historical perspective, and events in one country seen in context with contemporary events elsewhere. For the earliest periods most of the dates are necessarily approximate, but after… Read More

Thames and Hudson, New York, first edition, 1989. Cloth, gilt cover device, 8vo, 24 cm,. 224 pp, 152 ills. Ancient Mexico was one of the great independent hearths of civilization. Out of varied landscapes grew some of the richest cultures of the early historic world - Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec and Aztec. Standard histories tend to focus on the individual progress of these societies, but this new book takes an original approach, emphasizing the unity of Mexican civilization and addressing the questions tourists and students most often ask but specialists so rarely answer. In a series of attractively written vignettes, Professor Sabloff describes, first of all, what it would have been like to have lived during the heyday of Mexico's greatest cities, from Olmec San Lorenzo 3,000 years ago to the Aztec Tenochtitlan at the Spanish Conquest. Through the eyes of astronomers and ballplayers, merchants and priests, we see the temples, palaces and tombs of a civilization obsessed with ritual and death.… Read More

Book Club Associates, London, reprint edition, 1978. Cloth, 8vo, 28 cm,. 240 pp, 95 black-and-white illustrations 16 pages of colour. From the blurb: "Ancient Egypt, with its legacy of pyramids, pharaohs and sphinxes, is a land of power and mystery to the modern world. In The Civilization of Ancient Egypt Paul Johnson explores the growth and decline of a culture which survived 3000 years while maintaining a purity of style to rival all others. State, religion, culture and geographical setting were all elements which combined to form an unusually durable civilization. The most unifying of these elements was the theocratic power invested in the divine person of the pharaoh; his influence on politics and religion provided the racial and cultural stability from which all growth stemmed. Why then did such a unified civilization collapse? Egypt was the great Bronze Age power reluctant to move into the Iron Age; it was based too much on tradition, to the extent that individuality - and consequently… Read More

Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, first editions, 1893 - 1916. 2 vols, cloth-backed boards, paper spine-and cover-labels, folio, 43 cm,. [2], 105, [1] + [107] -301, [8] pp, numerous ills, facs. Includes at the end a general title-page for Part IV, together with preface, contents and list of works quoted. An ex-library set with Section I having a presentation stamp on the title-page and a note on the front free endpaper, and Section II having a presentation label on the front pastedown endpaper, blindstamps on the title-pages and one or two others. Boards and top edges duststained, paper spine-label of Section I chipped with loss, boards slightly worn at extremities, endpapers agetoned, contents otherwise otherwise Very Good.

Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, first edition, 1874. Cloth-backed boards, paper spine-and cover-labels, folio, 43 cm,. [4], 160, [1] pp, 3 plates. Contents: I. Decrees; II. Finance ; III. Military; IV. Gymnastic ; V. Imperial ; VI. Statues and Dedications; VII. Ritual; VIII. Gravestones. An ex-library copy with a casenumber at the foot of the front board, a label on the front pastedown endpaper and a small 'x' on the front free endpaper, blindstamp on the title-page and one or two others, boards and top edge duststained and a little worn at extremities, cloth slightly darkened, endpapers agetoned, otherwise Good. ,.

Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, first edition, 1890. Cloth-backed boards, paper spine-and cover-labels, folio, 43 cm,. [6], 67-294 pp, 1 plate. Contents: Inscriptions from Ephesos - Prolegomena. Section I: Decrees; II: Letters from Kings and Emperors; III: Honours for the Imperial Family and to Public Bodies; IV: Public Works and Buildings; V: Honours to Roman officials; VI: Inscriptions in Honour of Private Persons; VII: Dedications and Ex Votos; VIII: Agonistic; IX: Sepulchral; X: Miscellaneous Fragments; Addenda. An ex-library copy with a casenumber at the foot of the front board, a presentation label on the front pastedown endpaper and presentation stamp on the title-pager, blindstamp on the title-page and one or two others, boards and top edge duststained, boards slightly marked and a little worn at extremities, endpapers agetoned, contents otherwise otherwise Very Good.

Printed by order of the Trustees of the British Museum at the Clarendon Press, Oxford, first edition, 1886. Plain boards, paper spine label, folio, 43 cm,. 66, [1] pp, 1 plan. Minor wear to spine-ends, title-page and last page (a blank) browned, otherwise Good.

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, fourth, revised edition, 1931. Cloth, gilt cover device, 8vo, 24 cm,. xxxviii, 790 pp, fold-out colour maps, ills. Bookplate on front pastedown endpaper, joints worn and slightly pulled and slightly torn at head of spine, occasional light foxing.

Book Club Associates, London, reprint edition, 1973. Cloth, 4to, 25 cm,. 192 pp, 180 ills. From the blurb: "The influence of the Greeks on Western society has been greater and more fundamental than that of any other nation. It has touched almost every sphere, from ethics, philosophy, and politics to literature, science, aesthetics, and even language. Peter Green has written an authoritative and witty study - complemented by a wide variety of illustrations - of Greece during the centuries which preceded the Hellenistic age. After considering the mass of evidence which exists today to build up our picture of prehistoric Greece, Professor Green describes the culture of Minoan Crete, with its astonishing modernity; the Mycenaean civilization in Homeric tradition and in historical fact; and the flowering in culture and political thought which began in the mid-eighth century B.C. He discusses the forces at work in the rise and fall of the polis or city-state, and puts in perspective the roles of the… Read More

Book Club Associates, London, 1979 reprint edition. Cloth, 8vo,. xii, 190 pp, [4] leaves of plates, tables, maps. On Christmas Day, 1241, the armies of Batu Khan, founder of the Golden Horde, crossed the Danube while the disunited kingdoms of the West lay at their mercy. The Mongol invasion of Europe was entering its final phase, and it seemed as if all of Christendom was about to be destroyed by soldiers from Hell. The Devil's Horsemen is an examination of the origins and consequences of this extraordinary campaign. Based on a wealth of contemporary sources, it describes in detail the tactics and training of the finest army the world had ever seen, and tells the story of Subedei Bahadur, the illiterate military genius who brought 20th-century warfare to mediaeval Europe. Remembered today only as savage barbarians, the author shows how the Mongols were in fact formidable soldiers who invented strategies and tactics later adopted to devastating effect by Rommel and Patton. Mr Chambers also… Read More

Book Club Associates, London, 1978. Cloth, 8vo, 23 cm,. 224 pp, ills, plates. Fine in near Fine dustwrapper.

Book Club Associates, London, first edition, 1975. Cloth, 4to, 26 cm,. 256 pp, ills. This book seeks to introduce the reader to one of the most fascinating periods of world history - more than two millennia of outstanding human achievement. Tracing the origins and development of the early civilization of China up to the Mongol invasion which effectively ended it, the book ranges over all aspects of cultural development - archaeology, philosophy, religion, politics, administration, society, economy, the arts, science and technology. Since Marco Polo first related his experiences in the magnificent and sophisticated empire of the Great Khan, Chinese civilization, and in particular Chinese art, has held a mysterious attraction for the western imagination. In the light of the exciting new archaeological discoveries of the last decades, a reappraisal of the full spectrum of early Chinese society, such as this book offers, is a timely contribution to cultural studies. Lucid and informative, the book… Read More

Paladin, London, 1970. Laminated wrappers, 8vo,. 187 pp, [5] pp ads, [72] pp of plates. From the blurb: "In the fifteenth century BC, a volcanic eruption of exceptional violence occurred on the island of Thera (Santorin), 75 miles north of Crete. Did this mark the destruction of Atlantis, the story of which Plato gave to the world eleven centuries later ? Was there ever, in fact, such an island as he described, the home of an advanced culture and the centre of a great empire ?If so, where was it, when did its civilisation flourish, and why did it disappear ? Mr Luce, with the help of archaeologists, volcanologists, seismologists and oceanographers, suggests the real truth. It is a double story - of a legend, Atlantis; and of a cataclysm. Wrappers slightly yellowed, contents agetoned, otherwise Good.

Thames & Hudson, London, 1962 reprint of 1953 first edition. Cloth, large 8vo, 31 cm,. 176 pp, 93 pictures in photogravure, 6 colour plates. Ancient Greece was the fountainhead of Western civilization, and the richness of the legacy handed down to later generations by the Hellenic world is without parallel. Today, only weathered monuments, some little more than ruins, fragments of friezes and isolated sculptures remain to bear tangible witness to this once flourishing pre-Christian culture. But its spirit lives on: in the records of its poets, dramatists and historians, and in the very blood of its inheritors. Dr Hurlimann and Mr Warner, by dint of a singularly happy collaboration, have succeeded in bringing Ancient Greece once more before our eyes. The former has, with his camera, captured all the qualities that make up the perfection of Greek architecture; the milky clarity of the white Attic sunshine on marble, the forlorn dignity of sacred grove and deserted amphitheatre, the opalescent… Read More

E Typographeo Academico, Oxonii, 1838. 2 vols, contemporary calf, marbled endpapers and all edges marbled, 24 cm. cii, 379 + 381-757, [1] pp. In need of rebinding: both front boards detached and most of the spine of Volume 1 and some of that of Volume II lost. Boards scuffed and somewhat worn, contents osound and clean. An ex-library set with library discard labels on the endpapers.