The World of the Past (complete in two volumes). Vol. 1, The history and purpose of archaeology and its great discoveries about the Stone Ages and the Fertile Crescent from Babylon to Egypt in the words of the original discoverers, observers and interpreters. Vol. 2, The history of archaeology and its greatest discoveries in Greece , Italy , Asia , Northern Europe and the Western Hemisphere in the words of the original discoverers , observers and interpreters. de Jacquetta Hawkes - 1963

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1963. First Edition. Cloth. Fine/very good +. A fine, complete, two volume set with both dust jackets and original slipcase. Buckram over blue cloth with sketch done in silver. Gold title stamping to spine. Burgundy endpapers. Previous owner's stamp to first blank leaf. Volume one dust jacket showing shelfwear at crown. Volume 2 dustjacket shows sunning and wear at crown. Pictorial slipcase is very good plus showing only moderate shelfwear. All plates present. Vol. 1. 601 pp., 24 plates; Vol. 2, 709 pp., 24 plates. Octavo. The editor has tackled, in these two volumes, a most difficult task: a compilation of selected readings dealing with major archeological excavations on every continent save Australia. The editor is to be congratulated for the general balance attained by the selection of articles....In both volumes nearly all footnotes have been eliminated. Where footnotes are of unusual importance or interest, however, they have been incorporated into the text in brackets. There is a very basic index provided for the general reader in each volume. The plates are well chosen-some are of objects never before published-and are reproduced with clarity. It was the editor’s purpose to “give something approaching a history of archaeology and archaeological knowledge” and her hope “that both kindsof reader, the serious and the casual, will iind their appropriate pleasures.’’ Miss Hawkes has been more successful in accomplishing this than any of her predecessors." --- C. C. LAMBERG-KARLOVSKY, Harvard University, in American Anthropologist