TOYNBEE, Arnold, & Daisaku IKEDA
 
Choose Life: A Dialogue; published by Oxford University Press, 1976. With presentation ephemera. 
 
Description
 
Octavo. Original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt. With the original dust jacket. A fine, clean copy internally, completely free from modern inscriptions or ownership markings. Dust jacket intact and not price-clipped, showing characteristic sunning to the spine but otherwise structurally sound and free from major chips or tears.
First UK edition, first printing.
An exceptional presentation copy, accompanied by the original institutional ephemera from Tokyo. Included is the formal presentation letter on Soka Gakkai letterhead, dated April 2, 1978, signed by Tomiya Akiyama, Director of the International Bureau, presenting this 'complimentary copy of an Oxford publication.' Also preserved is the accompanying blank administrative acknowledgement form, numbered 57804, completing the original diplomatic mailing package.
Choose Life records the intensive series of debates and discussions held in London between May 1972 and May 1973. It matches the monumental historical perspective of British historian Arnold Toynbee with the philosophical insights of Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Soka Gakkai international Buddhist movement. The text addresses pressing late twentieth century global concerns regarding environmental degradation, international politics, and the perennial role of ethics in human affairs. Institutional presentation sets from the Soka Gakkai’s Tokyo headquarters, complete with intact correspondence and accompanying ephemera, are uncommon on the market.