NY: Random House, 1961. First edition. 458pp.; index. 8vo. Black and red “brick” cloth boards; spine lettered in gilt and red; red topstain; dust jacket. Ownership inscription penned on ffep. Else fine in a very good (+) jacket with short closed tears and related lateral creasing to at base of front panel. N.B. this copy with “Kiplinger Book Club Edition” stamped at head of rear flap, though otherwise all first edition points are present: “First Printing” on copyright page, “$5.95” price on front flap, etc.
Nice copy of this timeless critique of American urban planning. Far from revitalizing inner cities, Jacobs argues, modernist urban planners from Le Corbusier to Robert Moses in fact hastened cities’ decline in service of a decentralized suburban ideal. Coming at the height of the “white flight” era, Jacobs’ book staked out a radical and influential position in defense of the complexity of the urban environment.
