Social Life in Greece

“Social Life in Greece” was one of the works written by Irish classicist John Pentland Mahaffy. The contents of this book include “The Greeks of the Homeric Age”, “Attic Culture” and “The Social Aspects of Greek Art”.

Title: Social Life in Greece from Homer to Menander
Author: J.P. Mahaffy
Publisher: Macmillan & Co.
Publication Year: 1890
Pages: 489
Size: 13.8 cm x 19.3 cm

This book has navy blue cloth boards with an embossed gilt vine leaf motif along the top of the front board and spine. The back board has the same pattern along the top but without gilt. The spine has the title and author in gilt lettering. There a few dirt patches on the boards and a large fade mark towards the bottom of the front board. There are also a few points at the corners of the boards and top of the spine where the cloth has been worn thin, this book may have been referred to frequently by a previous owner.

Inside the book the spine is in fair condition with some cracking between pages 16 and 17. However the binding is still nice and secure and all the pages are present. There are a few foxing marks scattered across the pages and some faded ink stains on page 200, but they do not block the text or make the book unreadable. There are also tear marks between pages 3 and 8 which do not make the pages unreadable but will need to be handled carefully to prevent them becoming worse.

The inside of the front board bears a school award notice that reads “Department of Science and Art of the Committee of Council on Education London – Queens Prize obtained by Martin O’Connor in the examination of the science schools, May 1891”. There is then a further, slightly faded, inked dedication three pages later that reads “Martin O’Connor, Irish College, Paris”.

Overall this book is in decent condition for one that is over 100 years old. It has clearly been well used over the years but with a bit of care it should last for many more years.