Der Untergang Des Abendlandes: Umrisse Einer Morphologie Der Weltgeschichte: Gestalt Und Wirklichkeit. [The Decline of the West: Outlines of a Morphology of World History: Form and Actuality].

SPENGLER, Oswald.

$7,500.00

Item Number: 145336

Germany: Wilhelm Braumüller, 1918.

Scarce first edition of the first volume of this work on history and culture. Octavo, bound in three-quarter morocco over patterned boards with titles in six compartments within raised bands, two fold-out panels of ‘simultaneous’ intellectual and political epochs. In near fine condition with toning and ownership signatures to the half-title page, marks to the title page. A bright example. Rare, with only a handful appearing at auction in the last 100 years.

'The Decline of the West' is a two-volume philosophical rejection of the Eurocentric view of history. According to Spengler, the meaningful units for history are not epochs but whole cultures which evolve simultaneously as organisms. In this mental restructuring of anthropic perspective, Spengler places the West in its 'evening,' similar to the late Roman Empire, approaching its eventual decline despite its seeming power. Literary critic George Steiner suggested that this work can be seen as one of several books that resulted from the crisis of German culture following Germany's defeat in World War I.