This book, French readers were told one month before its publication last January, 'is already the intellectual event of 1980'. As if in answer, the first printing of 9,000 copies of the three-volume set, each containing 1,751 pages and weighing ten pounds, sold out within three weeks. At almost £50 per set, Civilisation Matérielle seems likely to prove the commercial event of 1980.

LRB 4 September 1980 | PDF Download