England - William Ralph Inge (Revised Edition, 1953 | McGraw-Hill)

William Ralph Inge. England. Revised Edition. New York and Toronto: McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., 1953. Octavo (8.5 × 5.75 in.), 277 pp. Brown cloth with white spine and series lettering (“Nations of the Modern World”) in silver and white; in original blue dust jacket with crown emblem. Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay & Co., Bungay, Suffolk. This mid-century revision of England, first issued in 1926, presents the distinguished theologian and essayist’s concise but penetrating study of his homeland’s landscape, character, and moral temperament. Inge (often called the “Gloomy Dean” of St. Paul’s) combines historical reflection with personal candor, analyzing English geography, empire, industrialism, and democracy through a lens both conservative and self-critical. The 1953 edition includes the expanded preface to the Third Edition, written when Inge was in his nineties, adding commentary on postwar England’s social changes and shifting moral foundations. Condition: Near Fine in Very Good dust jacket. Clean, square copy with solid binding and bright gilt. Previous owner’s neat inscription (dated 1956, Austin, Texas) to front endpaper; no other marks. Jacket moderately rubbed with scattered surface wear, light edge chipping, and short closed tear to top front edge; unclipped ($4.75). A well-preserved example. Edition details: Revised (Third) Edition, issued by McGraw-Hill as part of its Nations of the Modern World series. Originally published 1926 (Ernest Benn, London); this U.S. reissue follows the British third edition, incorporating additional prefaces and updated historical commentary. William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) was an English Anglican priest, theologian, and essayist who served as Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral from 1911 to 1934. Known as the “Gloomy Dean” for his austere moral tone, Inge was in fact a deeply reflective scholar who blended Christian mysticism with classical learning and social critique. A prolific writer and Fellow of the British Academy, he authored works on religion, politics, and philosophy, leaving an enduring mark on 20th-century English thought.…