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Serendipities - Langauage and Lunacy (Signed)

Serendipities - Langauage and Lunacy (Signed)

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Serendipities - Langauage and Lunacy (Signed)

by Eco, Umberto

  • Used
  • Fine
  • Hardcover
  • Signed
  • first
Condition
Fine/fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Avon, Connecticut, United States
Item Price
NZ$255.60
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About This Item

New York: Columbia University, 1998. First edition. Hardcover. Fine/fine. 8vo. Quarter yellow cloth over paper-covered boards. 129 pp. First US printing of this extended essay on language. Translated from the Italian by William Weaver. A fine copy in dustwrapper. SIGNED by Eco and uncommon thus.

Synopsis

Serendipities is a careful unraveling of the fabulous and the false, a brilliant exposition of how unanticipated truths often spring from false ideas. From Leibniz's belief that the I Ching illustrated the principles of calculus to Marco Polo's mistaking a rhinoceros for a unicorn, Umberto Eco offers a dazzling tour of intellectual history, illuminating the ways in which we project the familiar onto the strange to make sense of the world. Uncovering layers of mistakes that have shaped human history, Eco offers with wit and clarity such instances as Columbus's voyage to the New World, the fictions that grew around the Rosicrucians and Knights Templar, and the linguistic endeavors to recreate the language of Babel, to show how serendipities can evolve out of mistakes. With erudition, anecdotes, and scholarly rigor, this new collection of essays is sure to entertain and enlighten any reader with a passion for the curious history of languages and ideas.

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Details

Bookseller
Derringer Books US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
35211
Title
Serendipities - Langauage and Lunacy (Signed)
Author
Eco, Umberto
Format/Binding
Hardcover
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Jacket Condition
fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First edition
Publisher
Columbia University
Place of Publication
New York
Date Published
1998
Keywords
Language Essay Signed
Bookseller catalogs
Modern Literature / First Editions;

Terms of Sale

Derringer Books

All books returnable for full refund within two weeks of delivery.

About the Seller

Derringer Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2005
Avon, Connecticut

About Derringer Books

Professional seller of quality first editions in all fields. Visitation by appointment.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Dustwrapper
Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...

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