The Shadow of Vesuvius

This history treats the eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 and the long afterlife of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Trevelyan reconstructs the buried towns from Pliny the Younger's letters and from archaeology, then follows the eighteenth-century rediscovery, treasure hunting under the Bourbon court, and the later shift toward systematic excavation and display. Travelers' accounts, changing ideas of what the ruins were for, and the volcano's continued presence over the Bay of Naples frame the narrative. The book is a study of catastrophe and recovery, not a novel of last-day survivors.

Quarter bound in brown cloth with cream paper boards cover blocked with a gold design. Pale blue endleaves printed with a picture in dark blue. Glassine dust-jacket (no slipcase. The Presentation Volume for 1977.