Christopher Hitchens recounts the history of these precious sculptures and forcefully argues the case for their return to Greece from the British Museum.
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Christopher Hitchens recounts the history of these precious sculptures and forcefully argues the case for their return to Greece from the British Museum.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Ex-Library copy with typical library marks and stamps. First edition THUS. Shelf and handling wear to cover and binding, with general signs of previous use. Boards betray fading and nicks and other signs of wear and imperfection commensurate with age. Binding is tight and structurally sound. Interior pages with text without any extraneous marks. Dust jacket adhered to the boards by the enlightened librarians. Secure packaging for safe delivery.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good in Good dust jacket in Good jacket. Clean, bright pages with no owners' marks; hard cover shows lines of fading along top and bottom edges and some crimping at spine heel, and jacket bears three long creases on the front interior flap, fading on the front except in one circular spot, closed edge tears on the rear, a laminate scratch at the bottom front, and tiny tears and chips at corners and spine ends, yet remains overall sound, now protected in a clear sleeve. 137pp.
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Seller's Description:
New York. 1988. Hill & Wang. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. 0809041898. With essays by Robert Browning and Graham Binns. 137 pages. hardcover. The artwork on the jacket is a detail of A. Archer's painting of the Elgin Room at the British Museum. Jacket design by Cynthia Krupat. keywords: Politics Essays Culture. FROM THE PUBLISHER-In over two millennia of existence, the Parthenon, sublime emblem of Western civilization, has been a pagan shrine, a church, a mosque, and an arms dump. The Nazis flew their flag over it, a twelfth—century arch-bishop beautified it, a seventeenth—century mortar bomb went through the roof, blowing up a cache of Turkish gunpowder, and promiscuous collectors of all kinds have mutilated it. Today a major part of the Parthenon's sculptures and friezes, designed and executed by Phidias in the fifth century B.C., are in the British Museum—because in 1801, with Greece still a part of the Turkish empire, Lord Elgin, then British Ambassador to Constantinople, had them removed and taken to Britain, igniting a storm of controversy that has continued until the present day. Was Lord Elgin merely a rescue archaeologist whose intent was to endow Britain's cultural heritage? Or was he a souvenir hunter on a grand scale whose original idea was to pillage the Acropolis in order to decorate his private house in Scotland? Did he have any moral right—even by the standards of his times—to carry the marbles of? Voices of protest, including Byron's and Hardy's and Keats's, were raised quite early. In an absorbing, and passionate, work on a fiercely debated issue (with many larger ramifications), Christopher Hitchens recounts the history of these precious sculptures and forcefully argues the case for their return to Greece. Marshaling his material with forensic skill, Hitchens demolishes with deadly grace the arguments of those who oppose the return of the marbles to Athens. Hitchens eloquently argues that the peerless marbles were plundered; they should be put back where they belong. Moreover, the precedent for the return of cultural treasures already exists: in 1964 Britain returned the Mandalay Regalia to Burma, and in 1985 agreed to return the beard of the Sphinx to Egypt. Imperial Spoils puts the heated argument over the Elgin Marbles into a compelling historical, artistic, moral, legal, and political framework. It includes essays on the history of the Parthenon, by Robert Browning, professor emeritus in classics at the University of London, and on the efforts to restore it, by Graham Binns, deputy chair-man of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles. Imperial Spoils is a valuable contribution to one of the more enduring debates over the different claims made on behalf of a people's cultural heritage. inventory #48344.
Edition:
First American Edition [stated], presumed First printing
Publisher:
Hill and Wang
Published:
1988
Language:
English
Alibris ID:
16450944408
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Seller's Description:
Very good in Good jacket. 137, [3] pages. Illustrations. Suggestions for Further Reading. Appendix 1 & 2. Ink notation, not from author, on front free end paper. DJ, is price clipped, has some wear, tears, chips and soiling. This is an important early work by the acerbic British-born writer. Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949-15 December 2011) was an English intellectual, polemicist, and socio-political critic who expressed himself as an author, orator, essayist, journalist, and columnist. Hitchens was the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of over 30 books, including five collections of essays on culture, politics, and literature. He became an American citizen in 2007. A staple of public discourse, his confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded public intellectual and a controversial public figure. He contributed to New Statesman, The Nation, The Weekly Standard, The Atlantic, London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, Free Inquiry, The Spectator, and Vanity Fair. As an anti-theist, he regarded all religions as false, harmful, and authoritarian. He argued in favor of free expression and scientific discovery, and asserted that it was superior to religion as an ethical code of conduct for human civilization. He also advocated for separation of church and state. The dictum, "What can be asserted without evidence can be dismissed without evidence", has become known as Hitchens's razor. In 2007, Hitchens's work for Vanity Fair won the National Magazine Award in the category "Columns and Commentary". Imperial Spoils: The Curious Case of the Elgin Marbles is a 1987 book by Christopher Hitchens on the controversy surrounding the removal by Thomas Bruce (seventh earl of Elgin) of the Parthenon's sculptured friezes (which became known as the Elgin Marbles), and his subsequent sale of the Marbles to the British Museum. Hitchens examines the history of the artifacts and the question of whether they should be returned to Greece. So far the British Government has not lost its marbles. The Parthenon Marbles, also known as the Elgin Marbles, are a collection of Classical Greek marble sculptures made under the supervision of the architect and sculptor Phidias and his assistants. They were originally part of the temple of the Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens. The collection is now on display in the British Museum, in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery. From 1801 to 1812, agents of Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin removed about half of the surviving sculptures of the Parthenon, as well as sculptures from the Propylaea and Erechtheum. The Marbles were transported by sea to Britain. Elgin later claimed to have obtained in 1801 an official decree (a firman) from the Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman Empire which were then the rulers of Greece. This firman has not been found in the Ottoman archives despite its wealth of documents from the same period and its veracity is disputed. The Acropolis Museum displays a proportion of the complete frieze, aligned in orientation and within sight of the Parthenon, with the position of the missing elements clearly marked and space left should they be returned to Athens. In Britain, the acquisition of the collection was supported by some, while some others, such as Lord Byron, likened the Earl's actions to vandalism or looting. Following a public debate in Parliament and its subsequent exoneration of Elgin, he sold the Marbles to the British government in 1816. They were then passed to the British Museum, where they are now on display in the purpose-built Duveen Gallery. After gaining its independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1832, the newly-founded Greek state began a series of projects to restore its monuments and retrieve looted art. It has expressed its disapproval of Elgin's removal of the Marbles from the Acropolis and the Parthenon, which is regarded as one of the world's greatest cultural monuments. International...
