219 pp. Spine considerably darkened and beginning to wear at top and bottom. Boards are clean and bright with minimal wear. Pages clean and mostly uncut, however book opens to sewing in three places. Decorative endpapers. Two-color TP, graphics on TP and half-title. Init caps throughout. ' ''Yes,'' I answered, ''Heraclitus was probably the first to discover the malady of pessimism; and that is why Nietzsche hailed him as a master.''//''Clearly,'' answered France musingly, ''Only, whether our philosophic ideas sadden or console, it is, in either case, the result of a delusion. Yes, of a great delusion. We are wont, in fact, to imagine that, by a long process of thought and reflection, it is possible for us to unveil any secret we will. We deem that no department of knowledge is closed to us. Proud of his attributes as a thinking animal, man has rashly sought to build up, on the basis of his intellectual powers, a grandiose edifice which, forsooth, is supposed to explain and interpret all things. He has created philosophy and attaches a serious value to the pale illusions of his senses. He has reared the monstrous Babel Tower of metaphysics on the shifting sands of his own sensations. And this Tower of Babel, which is but a silly toy, overshadows him, withal, and fills his heart with sadness.'' '