The Last Days of Pompeii (The Heritage Press)

New York: The Heritage Press, 1957. Reissue. Large Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 10x6x1. Craemer, Kurt. Includes publisher's slipcase and Sandglass insert Number IX:21. Spine and slipcase edges toned. 1957 Large Hardcover. xx, [2], 512, [1] pp. Illustrated by Kurt Craemer, introduction by Edgar Johnson. "The Last Days of Pompeii is a novel written by the baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton in 1834. Once a very widely read book and now relatively neglected, it culminates in the cataclysmic destruction of the city of Pompeii by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. The novel uses its characters to contrast the decadent culture of first-century Rome with both older cultures and coming trends. The protagonist, Glaucus, represents the Greeks who have been subordinated by Rome, and his nemesis Arbaces the still older culture of Egypt. Olinthus is the chief representative of the nascent Christian religion, which is presented favorably but not uncritically. The Witch of Vesuvius, though she has no supernatural powers, shows Bulwer-Lytton's interest in the occult - a theme which would emerge in his later writing, particularly The Coming Race.