[Item #4889] The Swerve: How the World Became Modern. Stephen Greenblatt.
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern
The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

ISBN: 9780393064476
New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2011. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Stephen Greenblatt. "In the winter of 1417, a short, genial, cannily alert man in his late thirties plucked a very old manuscript off a dusty shelf in a remote monastery, saw with excitement what he had discovered, and ordered that it be copied. He was Poggio Bracciolini, the greatest book hunter of the Renaissance. His discovery, Lucretius' ancient poem On the Nature of Things, had been almost entirely lost to history for more than a thousand years. It was a beautiful poem of the most dangerous ideas: that the universe functions without the aid of gods, that religious fear is damaging to human life, that pleasure and virtue are not opposites but intertwined, and that matter is made up of very small particles in eternal motion, randomly colliding and swerving in new directions. Its return to circulation changed the course of history. The poem's vision would shape the thought of Gelileo and Freud, Darwin and Einstein, and- in the hands of Thomas Jefferson- leave its trace on the Declaration of Independence." (from front flap) The great work of literary-historical scholarship by Stephen Greenblatt (b. 1943), the acclaimed & prolific American author. This profound volume, which explains the key event of the Renaissance & its repercussions through this day & certainly beyond, won both the National Book Award (2011) & the Pulitzer Prize (2012) for Non-Fiction. With a section of captioned, color images of historic relics. Hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first edition as stated on copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. On the title page, below his printed name, Greenblatt has hand-written his signature in bold black ink. From the collection of George V. Buehler (1933-2020), who was a prominent real estate developer & collector in Massachusetts & Arizona. We found & have retained, between blank rear endpaper & paste-down, several printed-out documents relating to Buehler's purchase of this item during 2011 & his subsequent re-valuation research in 2012-2013 (showing, we might add, its increase to twice the price we are offering it for a decade later), all folded & in very fine condition with only minor creasing & occasional spotting, light brown-streaking in the case of one sheet. The essential & superbly written story of how the re-discovery of the ancient Roman poet-philosopher Lucretius' (c. 99-55 BC) prescient poem during the early Renaissance "swerved" humanity toward modernity as we know it; the supreme Greenblatt collectible with his rare signature & distinguished provenance. Book in very fine condition with only a line of very small areas of paste-residue at edge between black & tan papers of back cover (undoubtedly a miniscule flaw as issued); otherwise substantially mint inside & out. Dust jacket very fine with only a hint of rubbing to front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same & flaps. Very Fine / Very Fine. [Item #4889]

Price: $150.00