"One of the major events in political thought"—PMM

The Great Betrayal (La Trahison les [sic, des] Clercs) [Treason of the Intellectuals]

Benda, Julien

Publication: London: George Routledge & Sons and Broadway House, 1928. First Edition.

Notes: The very scarce first English edition, in a dust jacket, of this classic of intellectual history. "The great twentieth-century defense of intellectual integrity"—David Bromwich, Sterling Professor at Yale. Printing and the Mind of Man (PMM) 419, "one of the major events in political thought between the two wars."

"A remarkably timely warning against the seduction of modern intellectuals by tribal loyalties and antipathies. Rather than detaching themselves from communal ties as their forebears had done, Benda argues that twentieth-century European intellectuals willingly subordinated the disinterested pursuit of truth to the servicing of group interests (particularly the interests of their own nations and social classes). Partisan agendas had a corrosive effect not only on moral and political philosophy, but also on the writing of history and fiction."—the publisher of the current edition.

The book was first published in English translation (by Richard Aldington) in London, followed by an American edition with the title the book is now known by, The Treason of the Intellectuals. Benda's French title translates to Treason of the Clerics. Some commentators translated the title word "clercs" as "clerk", but Benda was making a deliberate religious metaphor in the way that in English we might use the word "prophet" with a secular meaning. In Benda's introduction (as translated by Aldington), he writes, "I think it important that there should be men...who urge their fellow beings to other religions than the religion of the material."

x, 188 pages.

Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing with no indication of later printings on the copyright page). A few pages with foxing, thus very good in the publisher's brown cloth and a very good dust jacket. The jacket has tanned at the spine and shows some light wear and has a one-inch crack across the spine but is otherwise a well-preserved example of a scarce survivor. This book is more often seen in a two-part binding, with a black spine and red boards. The present one-piece binding, which might appear to be a remainder issue, is accompanied by a dust jacket with a standard "7/6 net" price on the spine (remainder bindings usually sport discounted prices).

Item No: #364735

Price: $2,000