Greece and Rome: Builders of Our World by National Geographic Society

Greece and Rome: Builders of Our World is a volume in the Story of Man Library, prepared by the National Geographic Book Service and published by the National Geographic Society. First published in 1968, this is the 1977 edition, with a foreword by Melville Bell Grosvenor, then Editor-in-Chief of National Geographic.

The book brings together an impressive team of scholars. Paul MacKendrick, Professor of Classics at the University of Wisconsin, served as editorial consultant, with special essays by Emily Vermeule of Harvard, Emeline Richardson, Gilbert Charles-Picard and Pierre Grimal of the Sorbonne. Further chapters are by Ernle Bradford, Leonard Cottrell and members of the National Geographic staff. It is richly illustrated in the National Geographic manner, with colour photography, paintings by artists including Peter V. Bianchi, H. M. Herget and Robert C. Magis, and maps.

From the Bronze Age world of the Minoans and Mycenaeans to classical Athens, the Etruscans, Carthage and the Roman Empire, Greece and Rome tells the story of the peoples whose ideas, art, law and architecture still underpin modern Western life. It combines serious scholarship with a readable, well-illustrated approach that has kept these volumes popular for decades.

This will appeal to readers interested in ancient history, classics and archaeology, to students, and to collectors of National Geographic books and the Story of Man series. Its gilt-decorated binding also makes it an attractive book for the shelf.

Condition – Very Good

A very good copy. The green boards with their gilt lattice decoration are bright and clean, and the gilt spine titling is sharp. The top edge is gilt, the ribbon marker is present and the binding is firm. Pages are clean. Minimal shelfwear only.