Condition Continued: There was also a vertical tear a little ways down from the horizontal one. When I glued down the bottom half of the spine the sides of this tear melded together, although you can still see that there was a tear. There is also a slight bit of cloth loss at both the top and bottom ends of the spine. The book is square and the spine look straight. The binding is very solid from cover to cover with nicely tight pages throughout and nicely tight covers as well. The pages are exceptionally clean. I turned them all over. I found only a very small number of pages with a speck-sized spot. The title page has three of these little specks (see photo), the same on the first page of the Contents. There are two consecutive pages toward the end of the book that have a light tan shading on each side of their junctures just off the top edge. This would have resulted from a little piece of paper being left in there, probably as a placeholder. The light shading touches a few letters. There is very little creasing. I found only three instances of a thin crease below a top corner, each far from the print. There are no markings in the book. No attachments. There are no names. The previous owner lightly penciled the following quote on the rear side of the blank rear end paper: '8. History is something which takes no notice whatever of our expectations.' The quote can be found on page 8. There is no other writing to be found anywhere else in the book.This penciled quote could be easily erased if one so chose without leaving any indication of its previous presence. 

George Allen &  Unwin, London, 1932. Hardcover. First Great Britain Edition (Stated 'First Published in Great Britain 1932'-- first editions are identifiable with George Allen &  Unwin by 'first published (year)' ). Once listed, this will be the Only Great Britain first edition for sale anywhere on the Internet. The first Great Britain first edition of The Decline of the West (two volumes) is nearly as rare. I found only one copy for sale on the Internet. It is selling for over $1,700.00. 

   AI Overview: Oswald Spengler presents a grim critique of modern technology and industrial society. He views life as an active battle for survival, not a peaceful state. Technics means the methods and tools living things use to survive. Animals use instinct, but humans use conscious thought and tools. When humans built the first tool, they stepped outside of nature and became its enemy. Humans mastered nature with machines, but now machines control and enslave human culture.

Spengler warned that industrial progress would damage the natural world and harm living species. He believed that Western civilization would eventually grow tired of its artificial, high-tech life and face inner collapse.'