WEIL, Simone; T.S. Eliot (preface); Arthur Wills (transl)

The Need For Roots: Prelude to a Declaration of Duties Toward Mankind

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1952. First American Edition. First printing. Black cloth hardcover, stamped in deep red on spine and front cover; dustjacket; xv,[1]-302pp. Mild dusting to upper edge of text block, else a tight, very Near Fine copy, free of markings or notable wear. In the original dustwrapper, all four corners clipped by publisher with printed price of $4.00 on front flap. Quite bright and clean, the spine free of fading, but rear panel scuffed (costing a few characters of text), with a bit of wear to extremities, including small chips at spine crown and lower front panel – Very Good. Preceded by the U.K. first edition the same year.

Quite presentable copy of Weil's posthumously-published masterpiece, written in London the year before her death from self-inflicted starvation, published in French as L'Enracinement: prélude à une déclaration des devoirs envers l'être humain (Paris: Gallimard, 1949). Perhaps owing somewhat to Eliot's effusive preface, this rather difficult work of social theory, begun as an analysis of France's capitulation to the Nazis during the Vichy period, achieved a large English-language readership (though, as with its clear analogue, Arendt's The Human Condition, it's unclear how much the book was actually read by those who discussed it). Regardless, The Need For Roots remains one of the essential works of the post-war period. Never out of print, but quite hard to find in the first edition.

Price: $500.00

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