Rare Books The Sense of Beauty Being the Outlines of Aesthetic Theory 1955 Modern Library Philosophy Book for Readers Gift Collectible Books

This is a very good hardcover with dust jacket. 1955 Modern Library. This copy is clean and solid inside and out. The pages inside are clean with no foxing or markings seen and only very light natural tanning of pages from age. The binding is tight and straight. Turquoise hardcover boards under jacket are also very good with barely a hint of shelf wear. The accompanying dust jacket is still clean and mostly shiny with only light shelf wear. Crown octavo book size or 5.75" x 8" with 269 pages not including the final pages that list the titles in the Modern Library series. Original price of $1.95 appears inside front dust jacket flap.

Modern Library began publishing series of books in 1917. they were extremely popular, especially with students, as they were copies of great literature and topics that were priced for the general public. The publishing firm of Boni Liveright started the series, as the idea stemmed from Albert Boni. The first title published was The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. Early editions were published in "pocket book" size for easy carrying to read anywhere and they were bound in leatherette. In 1927, Random House was borne out of Modern Library and pictorial dust jackets were introduced to the series, along with hardcover boards. As publishing changed, Modern Library fell to the wayside but was "reintroduced" in the 1970's. Early editions are collectibles and later titles remain favorites as many collect Modern Library editions of all ages.

Philosopher George Santayana published The Sense of Beauty in 1896. Santayana was teaching at Harvard and the writing is derived from his Harvard lectures. The book is divided into 4 parts; The Nature of Beauty, The Materials of Beauty, Form, and Expression. He argues that "beauty" is based on human senses and experience, diverging from the philosophy of beauty being from the Divine. The work is considered a major and important work of philosophy.

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