“And there you have the leitmotiv of Plato's whole career. While the storm is raging, there is nothing the man of a contemplative turn of mind can do. Let him take shelter and there prepare for the day when the people will perhaps listen to reason. He emphasizes the ‘perhaps,’ for like Confucius he is not quite certain whether that day will ever come.”
Hendrik Willem van Loon, though his words and beautiful illustrations, tells the story of the lives, the backgrounds, the achievements, and the personal philosophies of nearly half a hundred of the great men and women of the past, from Plato and Confucius to Chopin and Emily Dickinson.
Author: Hendrik Willem van Loon
Title: Lives: Being a true and faithful account of a number of highly interesting meetings with certain historical personages
Edition: First Edition, first printing
Published: New York: Simon and Schuster, 1942
Physical Description: Hardcover; Octavo; 886p
Condition: Fair condition dust jacket with heavy edge wear & chipping, rubbing to surfaces, and tanning—in new protector. Boards and spine clean with edge wear, bumping to corners, and crushing at spine ends. Binding solid and square. Pages tanned with foxing on fore-edge. Includes original laid-in supplement.
Comments: Beautiful copy
