THE MIND OF ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR; The Mind of Arthur James Balfour. Including Special Sections on America and Germany

8vo; xvi, (2), 407 pages; Contents are clean and secure in original green cloth binding with gilt lettering at spine, faint crease at spine, otherwise very good condition. Original owner's initials on ffep - "M.L.J." Arthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, (1848 — 1930) was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1902 to 1905. As Foreign Secretary in the Lloyd George ministry, he issued the Balfour Declaration on a Jewish homeland in 1917 on behalf of the cabinet. Balfour trained as a philosopher — he originated an argument against believing that human reason could determine truth — and was seen as having a detached attitude to life, epitomised by a remark attributed to him: "Nothing matters very much and few things matter at all". The writings in this volume reflect the depth of his reflections and the breadth of his interests. Some topics addressed: Henri Bergson, Christianity, Charles Darwin, Public Education, Eugenics, Genius, Golf, Naturalism, Medical Research, Political Economy, Music, etc. PROVENANCE: Mrs. Mary L. Jennings, wife of James Hennen Jennings (1854-1920), a mining engineer, born at Hawesville, KY. After attending private schools in London and Derbyshire, England, Jennings returned to Kentucky and set up a lumber business, but soon wanted to further his engineeering education. He graduated from the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard University in 1877 with the degree C.E. Jennings then headed West and worked in gold and quicksilver mines in California for the next ten years. In 1887 he went to Venezuela for another mining job. Finally, his talents as an innovative mining engineer, took him to South Africa. During 1889-1905 he was consulting engineer of H. Eckstein, in Johannesburg, and Wemher Beit, in London. Jennings was chiefly responsible for thr fevelopment and expansions of their mines, employing the most technologically advanced methods and equipment available in the day. In the rough and tumble of South Africa, he managed to keep out of John Hays Hammond's conspiracy to overthrow Kruger's government and to earn a fortune (the equivalent of about 10 million pounds in 2014) before he returned to America in 1905. …