Description

Edition Leipzig [Published date: 1968]. Hard cover, 211 pp. Good/ NO dust jacket. Glossy pictorial paper over boards with tan cloth and grey and red lettering on spine. Light bumping to edges of covers and light to moderate overall scuffing, aging, spotting, and soiling to covers as well. Binding tight. Light aging spotting to edges of text block. Pages lightly yellowed with age but otherwise clean and unmarked, with occasional light spotting. NOT Ex-library. NO remainder marks. Black and white and color illustrations and photos. [Excerpts from Introduction] The town square plays an important role in the structure of towns. As the focus of social life and the centre of traffic it is of considerable importance and significance in the life of a town. Its form reflects the social conditions existing when ¡t was laid out and its buildings erected. When the ruling social forces are in harmony with society itself, the square serves as the centre of public life, as in the case of the classical forum, the medieval market place and the open space in front of the church. In times of strife between the rulers of the town and the community, the square becomes the scene where the superior force strives to demonstrate its power and effectively to deploy those elements, judicial or military, upon which its superiority is based... It is the purpose of this volume to present to the reader some selected examples and thereby to encourage him, when he visits the squares in towns, not only to appreciate the outward picture they present, but also to inquire into their history, which is at the same time part of the history of the town.