Hardback Publisher's First Edition of 'A Short History Of Time' by Leofranc Holford-Strevens.

No dust jacket, instead The Folio Society's familiar slipcase in dark blue. Full cloth hardcovers in a light-to-mid-blue with an illustrative vignette in black and gilt. Gilt text and TFS logo on the spine. Dark navy blue endpapers and pastedowns. The frontispiece is an illustration of Kipps and admirers by Ellen Edwards. High quality Abbey Pure paper pages including an author's Preface, Glossary, comprehensive Index, and more than two dozen excellent illustrations and reproductions.

Published: The Foilio Society, London, 2007; Printed in Germany by Memminger MedienCentrum; Bound in Germany by Real Lachenmaier.

Dimensions (cased): Height - 8" / 205mm; Width - 5.25" / 133mm; Depth - 0.8" / 21mm.

Condition: New - mint, clearly unread, a few tiny blemishes to the outer slipcase but otherwise perfect.

Will ship on the day of received payment or the next day.

About the Author:

Leofranc Holford-Strevens, born on May 19th 1946, is an English classical scholar and polymath. He is renowned as an authority on the works of Aulus Gellius, and, until his retirement in 2011, was consultant scholar-​editor at the Oxford University Press. He also co-authored The Oxford Companion To The Year for the OUP. Holford-Strevens is married to the American musicologist Bonnie J. Blackburn.

Description:

Why do we measure time in the way that we do? Why is a week seven days long? At what point did minutes and seconds come into being? Why are some calendars lunar and some solar? The organization of time into hours, days, months, and years seems immutable and universal, but is actually far more artificial than most people realize. For example, the French Revolution resulted in a restructuring of the French calendar, and the Soviet Union experimented with five and then six-day weeks. Leofranc Holford-Strevens brings us this fascinating study of time using a range of examples from Ancient Rome and Julius Caesar's imposition of the Leap Year to the 1920s project for a fixed Easter. Those interested in time, history, and the development of the calendar will enjoy this absorbing exploration of an aspect of our lives that we all take for granted.