Origins of Totalitarianism First Edition - Hannah Arendt - Bauman Rare Books

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Origins of Totalitarianism

Hannah ARENDT

Item#: 107322 We're sorry, this item has been sold

Origins of Totalitarianism

"HER ACKNOWLEDGED MASTERWORK": FIRST EDITION OF HANNAH ARENDT'S ORIGINS OF TOTALITARIANISM

ARENDT, Hannah. The Origins of Totalitarianism. New York: Harcourt, Brace, (1951). Octavo, original blue cloth, original dust jacket.

First edition of Arendt's first book in America, with sections on Antisemitism, Imperialism and Totalitarianism in a breakthrough analysis of modern political evil and human rights that "established Arendt's reputation as a political thinker and has a good claim to be regarded as the key to her work."

Hannah Arendt is "widely recognized as one of the most original and influential political thinkers of the 20th century." Origins of Totalitarianism, her first book in America, "established Arendt's reputation as a political thinker and has a good claim to be regarded as the key to her work" (Cambridge Companion, 1, 25). In this volume, "her acknowledged masterwork… she not only offered a uniquely clear-sighted, broad account of twentieth-century totalitarian politics and their antecedents, she also provided… a landmark contribution to the discourse of international human rights" (Benhabib, Politics in Dark Times, 83, 1). Consisting of three sections, Antisemitism, Imperialism and Totalitarianism, Origins "was written, simply, to begin what Arendt called 'the interminable dialogue' with a new and horrific form of politics… It was in this book that Arendt began to grapple with the problem of political evil—evil as policy—on an enormous and hitherto unimaginable scale" (Cambridge Companion, 2). "First edition" stated on copyright page.

Book fine; minor expert archival restoration to near-fine dust jacket.

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Aquatint Copperplate process by which the plate is “bitten” by exposure to acid. By changing the areas of the plate that are exposed and the length of time the plate is submerged in the acid bath, the engraver can obtain fine and varying shades of gray that closely resemble watercolor washes. Although the name contains the word “tint”, this is a black-and-white printing process; aquatint plates can often be hand colored, however.
Armorial Used to describe a binding bearing the coat of arms of the original owner, or with bookplates incorporating the owner’s arms.
Association Copy copy that belonged to someone connected with the author or the contents of a book.
Boards Hard front and rear covers of a bound book which are covered in cloth, leather or paper. “Original boards” refers to cardboard-like front and back boards, from about 1700 to 1840, used as temporary protection for books before their purchasers would have them bound. Of particular value to collectors as evidence of a very early form of the book.
Book-Plate Label, generally affixed to the front pastedown, identifying a book’s owner.
Broadside Sheet printed on one side, typically for public display, usually larger than folio size (a folio being a broadside-size sheet printed on both sides and folded once, to make four pages).
Calf Binding material made from cowhide—versatile, durable, usually tan or brown in color, of smooth texture with no or little apparent grain. Readily marbled (“tree calf”), mottled, diced, colored, polished, tooled in gilt or blind, even scented (known as “russia”). Reverse calf, with a distinctive suede-like texture, is occasionally used.
Chromolithograph Lithograph printed in colors, typically three or more.
Collation Process by which the contents of a book are inspected for completeness, checking against internal evidence, the table of contents and/or plate list, and reference works. Also a shorthand bibliographical description of a book’s composition by its leaves and signatures, rather than its pages. A-C, for example, would indicate a quarto volume composed of three signatures or gatherings of eight pages each for a total of 24 pages.
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Duodecimo (12MO) Smaller than an octavo, typically less than six inches tall; smaller formats, such as 24mo and 32mo, are uncommon.
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Lithograph Illustration produced by transferring an image drawn on a carefully prepared stone to paper. The process allowed illustrations to more closely resemble the original drawings, paintings or sketches, as it gave the lithographer a freedom of line impossible to achieve in earlier intaglio and relief processes. It does not require the same sort of pressure as an engraving to transfer the image, but still has to be printed on separate stock from the text
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Morocco Binding material made from goatskin—versatile, durable, with a distinctive pebbled texture and visible grain. Readily stretched (“straight-grain”), crushed (flattened smooth), tooled in gilt or blind, inlaid with leathers of different colors. So-called because much of the raw material originally came from the tanneries of North Africa (other types of goatskin bindings denoting regions of origin include levant, turkey, niger).
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Wood-Engraving Engraving made with the graver or burin on the cross-section of a piece of boxwood; the harder wood and finer tools allow for more delicate, finely detailed images, while the block can still be set in the page alongside text and printed on the same stock as the text. While much older, wood engravings enjoyed an important renaissance in the late eighteenth century through Thomas Bewick and continued in popularity thorugh the nineteenth century.
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