In Homo Ludens, Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. He identifies five characteristics of play: it is free; it is not ordinary or real life; it is distinct from ordinary life both as to locality and duration; it creates order; it is connected with no material interest, and from it no profit can be gained.

With cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics, Huizinga examines play in all its diverse guises--as it relates to language, law, war, knowledge, poetry, myth, philosophy, art, and much more. As he writes, Civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play like a baby detaching itself from the womb: it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.

Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of man the player through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and early modern world. With an eye for our own times he writes: In American politics play] is even more evident. Long before the two-party system had reduced itself to two gigantic teams whose political differences were hardly discernible to an outsider, electioneering in America had developed into a kind of national sport. With its remarkable historical sweep, Homo Ludens defines play for generations to come.

A fascinating account of 'man the player' and the contribution of play to civilization.--Harper's

A writer with a sharp and powerful intelligence, helped by a gift of expression and exposition which is very rare, Huizinga assembles and interprets one of the most fundamental elements of human culture: the instinct for play. Reading this volume, one suddenly discovers how profoundly the achievements in law, science, poverty, war, philosophy, and in the arts, are nourished by the instinct of play.--Roger Caillois, editor of Diogenes

2014 Reprint of 1955 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In Homo Ludens, the classic evaluation of play that has become a must-read for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of Homo Ludens, or Man the player through Medieval Times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization. Huizinga defines play against a rich theoretical background, using cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics. Homo Ludens defines play for generations to come.

2024 Hardcover Reprint of 1955 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. In Homo Ludens, the classic evaluation of play that has become a must-read for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of Homo Ludens, or Man the player through Medieval Times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization. Huizinga defines play against a rich theoretical background, using cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics. Homo Ludens defines play for generations to come.

An essential reference for all game designers, this 1938 classic is a fascinating account of 'man the player' and the contribution of play to civilization (Harper's).

In this classic evaluation of play that has become a must-read for those in game design, Dutch philosopher Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. Like civilization, play requires structure and participants willing to create within limits. Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of Homo Ludens, or man the player through Medieval Times, the Renaissance, and into our modern civilization. Huizinga defines play against a rich theoretical background, using cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics. Homo Ludens defines play for generations to come.

In Homo Ludens, Johan Huizinga defines play as the central activity in flourishing societies. He identifies five characteristics of play: it is free; it is not ordinary or real life; it is distinct from ordinary life both as to locality and duration; it creates order; it is connected with no material interest, and from it no profit can be gained.

With cross-cultural examples from the humanities, business, and politics, Huizinga examines play in all its diverse guises--as it relates to language, law, war, knowledge, poetry, myth, philosophy, art, and much more. As he writes, Civilization is, in its earliest phases, played. It does not come from play like a baby detaching itself from the womb: it arises in and as play, and never leaves it.

Starting with Plato, Huizinga traces the contribution of man the player through the Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and early modern world. With an eye for our own times he writes: In American politics play] is even more evident. Long before the two-party system had reduced itself to two gigantic teams whose political differences were hardly discernible to an outsider, electioneering in America had developed into a kind of national sport. With its remarkable historical sweep, Homo Ludens defines play for generations to come.

A fascinating account of 'man the player' and the contribution of play to civilization.--Harper's

A writer with a sharp and powerful intelligence, helped by a gift of expression and exposition which is very rare, Huizinga assembles and interprets one of the most fundamental elements of human culture: the instinct for play. Reading this volume, one suddenly discovers how profoundly the achievements in law, science, poverty, war, philosophy, and in the arts, are nourished by the instinct of play.--Roger Caillois, editor of Diogenes

This work is a classic -- a thorough examination of life and culture in the Middle Ages as it progressed toward the Renaissance. The author shows how the 14th and 15th century history marked not only the birth of a dramatically new era -- the Renaissance -- but the fullest, ripest phase of medieval life and thought.

This work is a classic -- a thorough examination of life and culture in the Middle Ages as it progressed toward the Renaissance. The author shows how the 14th and 15th century history marked not only the birth of a dramatically new era -- the Renaissance -- but the fullest, ripest phase of medieval life and thought.

2016 Reprint of 1924 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. Huizinga had an aesthetic approach to history, where art and spectacle played an important part. This is his most famous work, wherein he here reinterpreted the Late Middle Ages as a period of pessimism and decadence rather than rebirth. The Waning of the Middle Ages is his masterpiece, a study of the forms of life of fifteenth-century France and Burgundy, based upon his critical reading of aesthetic and philological sources normally overlooked by the working historian. Huizinga attempted to do for the late medieval North what his acknowledged master, Jacob Burckhardt, had done for the Italian Renaissance.

Here is the first full translation into English of one of the 20th century's few undoubted classics of history. --Washington Post Book World

The Autumn of the Middle Ages is Johan Huizinga's classic portrait of life, thought, and art in fourteenth- and fifteenth-century France and the Netherlands. Few who have read this book in English realize that The Waning of the Middle Ages, the only previous translation, is vastly different from the original Dutch, and incompatible will all other European-language translations.

For Huizinga, the fourteenth- and fifteenth-century marked not the birth of a dramatically new era in history--the Renaissance--but the fullest, ripest phase of medieval life and thought. However, his work was criticized both at home and in Europe for being old-fashioned and too literary when The Waning of the Middle Ages was first published in 1919. In the 1924 translation, Fritz Hopman adapted, reduced and altered the Dutch edition--softening Huizinga's passionate arguments, dulling his nuances, and eliminating theoretical passages. He dropped many passages Huizinga had quoted in their original old French. Additionally, chapters were rearranged, all references were dropped, and mistranslations were introduced.

This translation corrects such errors, recreating the second Dutch edition which represents Huizinga's thinking at its most important stage. Everything that was dropped or rearranged has been restored. Prose quotations appear in French, with translations preprinted at the bottom of the page, mistranslations have been corrected.

The advantages of the new translation are so many. . . . It is one of the greatest, as well as one of the most enthralling, historical classics of the twentieth century, and everyone will surely want to read it in the form that was obviously intended by the author. --Francis Haskell, New York Review of Books

A once pathbreaking piece of historical interpretation. . . . This new translation will no doubt bring Huizinga and his pioneering work back into the discussion of historical interpretation. --Rosamond McKitterick, New York Times Book Review

Reproduction of the original: Erasmus and the Age of Reformation by Johan Huizinga

This collection of literature attempts to compile many of the classic, timeless works that have stood the test of time and offer them at a reduced, affordable price, in an attractive volume so that everyone can enjoy them.

Erasmus and the Age of Reformation is a historical book written by Johan Huizinga that explores the life and work of the renowned humanist scholar, Desiderius Erasmus, during the tumultuous period of the Reformation. The book provides an in-depth analysis of Erasmus' ideas, his intellectual contributions, and his influence on the religious and cultural landscape of Europe during the 16th century. Huizinga's work includes a selection of letters written by Erasmus, which offer a glimpse into his personal life, his relationships with other scholars, and his opinions on various issues of the time. The book also delves into the political and social context of the Reformation, including the rise of Protestantism, the conflicts between different religious factions, and the impact of the printing press on the dissemination of ideas.Erasmus and the Age of Reformation is a highly regarded work of historical scholarship that provides a comprehensive understanding of the intellectual and cultural developments of the Renaissance and Reformation periods. It is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of ideas, religion, and society in early modern Europe.This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the old original and may contain some imperfections such as library marks and notations. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions, that are true to their original work.

This classic study of art, life, and thought in France and the Netherlands during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries ranks as one of the most perceptive analyses of the medieval period. A brilliantly creative work that established the reputation of Dutch historian John Huizinga (1872-1945), the book argues that the era of diminishing chivalry reflected the spirit of an age and that its figures and events were neither a prelude to the Renaissance nor harbingers of a coming culture, but a consummation of the old.
Among other topics, the author examines the violent tenor of medieval life, the idea of chivalry, the conventions of love, religious life, the vision of death, the symbolism that pervaded medieval life, and aesthetic sentiment. We view the late Middle Ages through the psychology and thought of artists, theologians, poets, court chroniclers, princes, and statesmen of the period, witnessing the splendor and simplicity of medieval life, its courtesy and cruelty, its idyllic vision of life, despair and mysticism, religious, artistic, and practical life, and much more.
Long regarded as a landmark of historical scholarship, The Waning of the Middle Ages is also a remarkable work of literature. Of its author, the New York Times said, Professor Huizinga has dressed his imposing and variegated assemblage of facts in the colorful garments characteristic of novels, and he parades them from his first page to the last in a vivid style.
An international success following its original publication in 1919 and subsequently translated into several languages, The Waning of the Middle Ages will not only serve as an invaluable reference for students and scholars of medieval history but will also appeal to general readers and anyone fascinated by life during the Middle Ages.

In this very readable biography, a noted scholar traces Erasmus's youth, his years as an itinerant scholar, sojourns in England, France, Switzerland, and Italy, friendship with Sir Thomas More, and disputes with Martin Luther. The author also probes Erasmus's mind and character and discusses his writings.

Rather more than twenty years ago, on a spring morning of alternate cloud and sunshine, I acted as guide to Johan Huizinga, the author of this book, when he was on a visit to Oxford. As it was not his first stay in the city, and he knew the principal buildings already, we looked at some of the less famous. Even with a man who was well known all over the world as a writer, I expected that these two or three hours would be much like the others I had spent in the same capacity with other visitors; but this proved to be a day to remember. He understood the purposes of these ancient buildings, the intentions of their founders and builders; but that was to be expected from an historian who had written upon the history of universities and learning. What surprised and delighted me was his seeing eye.

Desiderius Erasmus (ca. 1466 - 1536), the illegitimate child of a Rotterdam priest and a physician's daughter, grew up to become the greatest figure in the northern Renaissance and one of the most celebrated men in Europe--a scholar of such vast learning, sacred and secular, that both royalty and universities petitioned for his services. In this painstakingly researched and well-written biography, a noted scholar traces the life and works of Erasmus from the depths of monastic obscurity to his prominent role as one of the leading humanists of the day, and a central figure of the Reformation. We learn of Erasmus's childhood and early youth, his years as an itinerant scholar, his sojourns in France, England, Switzerland, and Italy, his close friendship with Sir Thomas More, and his theological disputations with Martin Luther. The author provides in-depth analysis of Erasmus' mind and character, and perceptive discussions of his writings, including the 1509 Lucianic satire In Praise of Folly (in the Latin, Encomin moriae, a punning allusion to More, with whom Erasmus was staying when he wrote it), which turned out to be one of his most popular and enduring works. Huizinga also discusses Erasmus' extremely influential (though controversial) translation of the New Testament from Greek into elegant Latin, which provided theologians with a much more accurate text than had previously been available. A thinker of timeless relevance, Erasmus, through his writings, exercised enormous influence on subsequent Western thought and culture. This edition of Johan Huizinga's classic biography is sure to appeal to students, scholars, and general readers.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.

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This is a new German translation of Erasmus, accompanied by Huizinga's study on the Dutch painter and poet Jan Veth (1864-1965). Although the biographical account of 1927 offers a polite criticism of the poet, it still recommends to the reading public a deep admiration for Jan Veth's serious and sincere portraiture.