Learning from the Past

bringing the forest into the city, piece by piece, as that's all i can do for now🌲

The full moon during a “blood moon” eclipse beside a statue of the ancient Greek goddess Hera in central Athens on July 27, 2018.

Image: Aris Messinis / AFP

Staff Pick of the Week

My staff pick of the week is the seven-volume set of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (1737-1794). Edward Gibbon was a rationalist historian who lived in 18th-century England and is best known for this set of histories. The first volume was printed in 1776 and received several additions and revisions by the author before his death. The seven volumes cover the Roman Empire from the 1st century AD to the 15th century. 

This particular set was published in 1946 by George Macy Companies, Inc. as part of their Limited Editions Club. The box set was printed in an edition of fifteen hundred and was sent out as part of the subscription service for the club. These editions included photogravure prints from etchings in The Views of Rome by Giovanni Batista Piranesi (1720-1778). 

Piranesi’s etchings and the histories were produced at around the same time but they did not come together in printing until these special editions. Another aspect of the special editions, and the reason they are my staff pick, is the design of the spines. They are bound in black morocco and stamped in designer gold. As the volumes progress from the first to the last the ionic column crumbles into disrepair. To follow the various stages of the empire’s regional rule each volume has a map from the period that it covers. The second map image was most interesting to me because it shows a time when the Roman Empire was no longer in control of Rome, but instead ruled by the Ostrogoths.

Some things once you’ve loved them become yours forever. And if you try to let them go, they only circle back and return to you. They become a part of who you are… or they destroy you.

What Cleopatra actually dressed like: