Larousse Encyclopedia Of Ancient And Medieval History

London: Paul Hamlyn Ltd. Very Good/Very Good. 1963. Hard Cover. 4to Dust Jacket unclipped, small amount of loss now in clear removable protective sleeve. 448 pages, including 32 in colour. Over 500 illustrations and maps. Comprehensive index. No ownership marks. Clean and tight. John Bowie, the advisory editor of this book, writes: This volume of Larousse covers universal history from the origins to the late Middle Ages in Europe, and to the rise of the Aztec and Incan empires in Amer­ica. It is translated from the famous French origi­nal encyclopedia, Histoire Universelle, and adapted for English-speaking readers. French historians, with their clear and precise lan­guage, are well equipped for great themes, and the panorama here depicted is immense. The time span is vast: the narrative describes events which occurred from Western Europe to Indonesia, from the medieval kingdoms of the Southern Sahara to Mexico and Peru. The landmarks of the development of India and the Far East are charted, and the rise of Muscovy from Kievan Russia. Those who look for some great ideological or eco­nomic explanation of history will not find it in these pages, but they will find an always realistic exposition of the political events which have formed the frame­work of the great cultures of mankind. There is one pattern in history which all historians must admit—the fantastic biological success of man. It was ensured when sparse, nomadic hunters became stock-breeders and farmers, and settled, self-support­ing, on the land. From this neolithic 'revolution' all the rest followed: the exploitation of copper and iron, the invention of the loom, the wheeled vehicle. Another theme of universal history is the interaction of the peoples of the 'desert and sown', of the outer 'barbarians' and the inhabitants of the settled lands. Throughout history, barbarians destroy, but they bring new vitality; a change in the quality of the civilisations they invade and into which their descend­ants are assimilated. Kublai Khan, a descendant of predatory Mongols, ruled an immense cosmopoJitn empire in the Far East which brought new and fruitful influences into what had been the Sung civilisation of China; Charlemagne, the heir of barbarous heathen Franks, became the patron of Latin-speaking scholars from the Mediterranean and the symbol of the new Europe, its centre of gravity north of the Alps; while Umar Khayyam's principal patron was a Seljuk Turk. This movement and cross-fertilisation is common to all cultures. The history of mankind is not politically a pleasant story, but its violence is seldom unpro­ductive. That violence is not shirked in these pages. They also contain a brilliant record of the art of mankind. Though political events are decisive in his­tory and set a subsequent pattern of power, it is in the long run the legacy of the inventors, writers, archi­tects and sculptors, the musicians and the painters, which survive to speak directly of the civilisations they represent. For the history of literature, music, or inventions, the reader must go elsewhere, but the contributions of the artists, sculptors and architects are vivid in these pages, and from them the reader can supplement the political narrative and sense the var­iety and achievements of the cultural history of man. .