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American Heritage Publishing Co., New York (trade distribution by Harper & Row), Published 1966. Hardcover, 153 pp.; 27 cm; First Edition; 133 illustrations, 31 in color, including maps, engravings, lithographs and photographs; pictorial endpapers. By the Editors of Horizon Magazine; consultant Charles Issawi, Professor of Economics, Columbia University.
In Very Good condition with a Good dust jacket. Illustrated cloth-covered boards reproducing the jacket art, with brown lettering on front; gold presentation box on rear board; brown spine with white lettering and Horizon Caravel Book device. Mild shelf and edge wear to covers; hint of color loss at top and bottom of spine. Binding tight. Small nicks to paper at top corners of both pastedowns and top of front free endpaper. Pages mildly toned, otherwise unmarked. Illustrated dust jacket, $4.95 price intact on front flap, with opening-day procession of ships through the canal on front and American Heritage advertisements on back. 1.5-inch diagonal tear at bottom edge of back panel near spine; a few smaller nicks and tears, increasing along edges. Mild shelf wear with some scuffing, soiling and toning; some color loss along edges and spine and at top corner of front panel. Now in an archival quality (removable) Brodart cover. Illustrated history of the Suez Canal for young readers, from Ferdinand de Lesseps' 1854 concession through ten years of construction to the gala opening of November 17, 1869, attended by Empress Eugenie, with an epilogue on the 1956 Suez crisis. Many of the illustrations come from the files of the Compagnie Financiere de Suez in Paris and from the de Lesseps family, including lithographs from the album commissioned to commemorate the opening, portraits of Egypt's rulers, and a color photograph of the Nile Delta taken from Gemini 4. Includes a section on ancient waterways, from the pharaohs' canals to Trajan's. Contents: Foreword; Celebration in the Desert; The Dream; Journey to Egypt; Opposition from the British; Financing the Canal; The Sand Giant; Where Two Worlds Meet; Acknowledgments; Further Reading; Index.