The Worldly Philosophers.

HEILBRONER, Robert L.

$4,800.00

Item Number: 115615

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1953.

First edition of this bestselling classic, which has went on to sell more than 4 million copies. Octavo, original cloth. Association copy, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper in the year of publication, “To Aline – Who combines all the advantages of a philosophical worldliness and a worldly philosophy. Fondly Bob Heilbroner Oct. 4, 1953.” The recipient, Aline Bernstein Saarinen was a well-known critic of art and architecture in the United States, an author and a television journalist, who married the architect Eero Saarinen. She was given the International Award for Best Foreign Criticism at the Venice Biennale in 1951. She received the Frank Jewett Mather Award for best newspaper art criticism in 1953, and the American Federation of Arts Award for best newspaper criticism in 1956. In 1964 she turned down an offer from President Lyndon B. Johnson of the post of ambassador to Finland. Aline was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Michigan in 1964 and another by the Russell Sage College in 1967. In near fine condition.

The Worldly Philosophers elucidates historically popular economic theories. The author's ability to do so with ease and effectiveness is a mark of its appreciation, and it remains an indispensable text for students of economics today. John Kenneth Galbraith stated "[i]f ever a book answered a crying need, this one does. Here is all the economic lore most general readers conceivably could want to know, served up with a flourish by a man who writes with immense vigor and skill, who has a rare gift for simplifying complexities." Galbraith's approval is all the more relevant considering that this copy was inscribed to him.