The Light of Asia; or, The Great Renunciation..

London: Trubner & Co, 1882. Leather bound. Near fine. Eighth printing, duodecimo size, 248 pp., signed by Edwin Arnold. Sir Edwin Arnold (1832-1904) is best remembered today for this work, which "endeavours to describe the life and time of Prince Gautama Buddha, who, after attaining enlightenment, became the Buddha, The Awakened One" in the form of a narrative poem. The work "was one of the first successful efforts to popularize Buddhism for a Western readership" and was one of the inspirations for Mahatma Gandhi to study Buddhism (n.b., quotes from Wiki).

This copy signed on the flyleaf simply, "Edwin Arnold"; copies signed by Arnold are not commonly found, making this volume somewhat special, albeit an eighth printing.

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full red leather, narrow gilt double-ruled border on both boards, the spine with gilt tooling in five compartments and a black leather spine label with gilt lettering in the sixth, all edges gilt, decorative turn-ins in blind, combed marble endpapers, Arnold's signature in black ink with a line underneath on the flyleaf; duodecimo size (7 1/8" by 4 3/4"), pagination irregular with four preliminary pages (the title page with printer's name on the verso, dedication page with blank verso) followed by the Preface being pages [xi] -xv, [1, blank], [1] 2-238, there is no indication of missing pages, we assume a section in an earlier printing was not included in this printing but the pagination was not updated.

___CONDITION: Now near fine, we had a professional (name available upon request) repair the joints, corners, and the head of the spine; the volume is now strong and sturdy, the text block strong and square, and the interior is clean and bright; the sole prior owner marking we see an a paper label on the front pastedown for the "William Center" with a line for the Number, with the line being blank.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.