Physical description

Hard cover book,The Great Triumphs of Great Men.
Author: Editor & Compiler, James Mason.
Publisher: William P Nimmo, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Date: 1879
Green premium leather hardcover with lettering in gilt highly decorated spine and front cover. The spine has no Library label, flyleaf has a reference number top right hand corner .

Publication type

non-fiction

Inscriptions & markings

Flyleaf has a number 000382 top right hand corner of page and a lithograph of Shakespeare's house.

Summary

The Great Triumphs of Great Men is an interesting window into the Victorian era of popular history and educational publishing. The work was compiled and edited by James Mason. Rather than a single narrative, it is an anthology of biographical sketches outlining the lives, struggles, and achievements of historic figures. The work highlights various individuals categorised as warriors and statesmen (such as Alfred the Great, King Canute, Oliver Cromwell, and the Duke of Wellington), engineers, artists, and inventors (like Sir Christopher Wren and Thomas Gainsborough), as well as merchants, poets, and philosophers. The overarching theme is typical of the 19th-century "self-help" movement that was popularised by Samuel Smiles, using the determination, moral character, and triumphs of great men as an inspirational road map for the reader.