Add this copy of The Technical Arts and Sciences of the Ancients to cart. $19.51, fair condition, Sold by Anybook rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 1930 by Methuen & Co.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. No dust jacket. Re-bound by library. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 1850grams, ISBN:
Add this copy of The Technical Arts and Sciences of the Ancients to cart. $35.00, very good condition, Sold by Between the Covers-Rare Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Gloucester City, NJ, UNITED STATES, published 1930 by The Macmillan Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. First edition. 518pp. Six hundred and seventy-six black and white illustrations. Owner's decorative bookplate on front pastedown, owner's inscription on front fly, front hinge starting to crack, short tears on spine head, else very good, without dustwrapper as issued.
Add this copy of The Technical Arts and Sciences of the Ancients to cart. $48.00, fair condition, Sold by Powell's Books Chicago rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES.
Add this copy of The Technical Arts and Sciences of the Ancients to cart. $60.00, good condition, Sold by Jeffrey Marks Rare Books, ABAA rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Rochester, NY, UNITED STATES, published 1930 by The Macmillan Company.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Translated by Henry L. Brose. Old ink owner's signature on front free endpaper; some scattered underlining of a few words; very good or better. xxxii, 518 pp. With 676 illustrations. 8vo,
Are you the kind of person who has read enough hard history to find the History Channel juvenile? Do you read the artifact descriptions at museums and find them sorely lacking in detail? This book is written for you. This book is a comprehensive survey of Ancient and Classical period techniques (focused on Europe and the Middle East, but with some occasional references to India and China) involved in art and industry, from metal smelting and dye making to the construction of water-organs and the operation of Hero of Alexandria's toys. The author draws on classical accounts, German-language academic texts (detailed citations were omitted by the translator), and his own observations. The narrative is dry and technical, barely relieved by black-and-white photographs of artifacts, period depictions, and diagrams, but it is thoughtful and thorough--particularly when the author grapples with historical debates. This book is old (translated into English in 1929), and some information has by now been outdated by the hard work of historians and archaeologists. Nevertheless, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book had much of the knowledge that I had seen in more recent portrayals (recently published books and TV shows) and presented it with greater narrative detail and insight. While this book lacks anecdotes, idle speculation, and glossy pictures, it compensates with serious research and a technical perspective. I came away from reading this book with a new appreciation of the depth of human ingenuity through history. Ancient craftsmen and engineers obviously experimented and perfected their techniques with no less enthusiasm or care than the craftsmen and engineers of today. Yet in many ways the solutions fabricated by the ancients display a certain elegance in the ordinary not found today in our appliances, edifices, and infrastructure. This loss of elegance is ironically sourced in today's abundance of well-refined materials, mechanical power, computational speed: we can afford to apply brute force to our problems!