Book Details
Title: The Ability to Converse
Author: Stanley M. Bligh
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Henry Prowde Oxford University Press
Year: 1912
Impression/Edition: N/A
Cover: Hardcover (with no dust jacket)
Pages: 323
Dimensions:
Weight:
ISBN: N/A
Battle Scars:
Outside:
The dust jacket is not present.
The hardcover is well preserved with some shelf wear to edges/ends and corners. Some crushing to ends of spine and bumping to corners. The embossing on the spine is intact.
The page margins (seen when book is closed) retain the gold gilding on the top profile. The side and bottom profiles are clean but are discoloured (yellowing).
Inside:
The binding is firm and intact.
Inside the front and back covers there is discolouration (yellowing) and foxing. There is an ink inscription on the top of the front-end page of a name and address.
The pages are clean overall with some discolouration (yellowing/tanning) and occasional foxing.
Don't forget to check the photos below for a visual and make sure you are happy prior to purchase. Happy to answer questions if there is information missing.
Book Content:
Blurb (From the Preface) -
"The assumptions on which this book is based are that conversation is a means of culture which was in former times more highly valued that it is now, that it has recently been allowed to fall into neglect and disuse, and that it should be restored to its former high estate. Signs are not wanting that these assumptions are being gradually recognized and that many people are prepared to welcome an attempt, even though it be imperfect, to improve the general tone and standard of conversation and private discussion.
Now in making this attempt I have been led first to elaborate what I have called 'the theory of planes'. Whether that theory will justify itself by results and find acceptance with those interested in the question remains to be seen. This at least can be claimed for it, that it divides the whole subject into separate departments and so perhaps makes it more manageable. At the same time, the divisions render it easier to discover and develop special gifts and potentialities. I have treated each of the different planes as shortly as possible, even at the risk of leaving out much that may be thought necessary for their inadequate consideration. My aim has been rather to offer a few suggestions which each person can adapt or enlarge to suit his own purposes than to give directions which could be followed in detail. As I think that conversation on the aesthetic and spiritual planes should be free and unconstrained as possible I have in the chapters dealing with them given only the barest indications or outlines of how they might be treated.
The quality of conversation is affected not only by the specific intent, but by emotional conditions and by external circumstances. To each of these, therefore, I have devoted a chapter. It seemed to me that something should be said about listening and listeners, and about the selection of associates for conversational purposes. I have consequently dealt with these topics in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters. Finally I was of opinion that somewhat special gifts and aptitudes were needed for dealing with the young and untrained minds, and so in the last chapter I have tried to deal with this question.
My object has been to estimate and explain the mental qualifications, either natural or acquired, which are necessary for good conversation rather than to give an account of how people do in fact talk to each other, or to lay down rules about the best manner of conducting discussion. I have tried to indicate this by the title I have chosen, because I am anxious that no one should be misled into thinking that they will find herein a handy guide to conversational formularies.
STANLEY M. BLIGH"
Book Details
Title: The Ability to Converse
Author: Stanley M. Bligh
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Henry Prowde Oxford University Press
Year: 1912
Impression/Edition: N/A
Cover: Hardcover (with no dust jacket)
Pages: 323
Dimensions:
Weight:
ISBN: N/A
Battle Scars:
Outside:
The dust jacket is not present.
The hardcover is well preserved with some shelf wear to edges/ends and corners. Some crushing to ends of spine and bumping to corners. The embossing on the spine is intact.
The page margins (seen when book is closed) retain the gold gilding on the top profile. The side and bottom profiles are clean but are discoloured (yellowing).
Inside:
The binding is firm and intact.
Inside the front and back covers there is discolouration (yellowing) and foxing. There is an ink inscription on the top of the front-end page of a name and address.
The pages are clean overall with some discolouration (yellowing/tanning) and occasional foxing.
Don't forget to check the photos below for a visual and make sure you are happy prior to purchase. Happy to answer questions if there is information missing.
Book Content:
Blurb (From the Preface) -
"The assumptions on which this book is based are that conversation is a means of culture which was in former times more highly valued that it is now, that it has recently been allowed to fall into neglect and disuse, and that it should be restored to its former high estate. Signs are not wanting that these assumptions are being gradually recognized and that many people are prepared to welcome an attempt, even though it be imperfect, to improve the general tone and standard of conversation and private discussion.
Now in making this attempt I have been led first to elaborate what I have called 'the theory of planes'. Whether that theory will justify itself by results and find acceptance with those interested in the question remains to be seen. This at least can be claimed for it, that it divides the whole subject into separate departments and so perhaps makes it more manageable. At the same time, the divisions render it easier to discover and develop special gifts and potentialities. I have treated each of the different planes as shortly as possible, even at the risk of leaving out much that may be thought necessary for their inadequate consideration. My aim has been rather to offer a few suggestions which each person can adapt or enlarge to suit his own purposes than to give directions which could be followed in detail. As I think that conversation on the aesthetic and spiritual planes should be free and unconstrained as possible I have in the chapters dealing with them given only the barest indications or outlines of how they might be treated.
The quality of conversation is affected not only by the specific intent, but by emotional conditions and by external circumstances. To each of these, therefore, I have devoted a chapter. It seemed to me that something should be said about listening and listeners, and about the selection of associates for conversational purposes. I have consequently dealt with these topics in the twelfth and thirteenth chapters. Finally I was of opinion that somewhat special gifts and aptitudes were needed for dealing with the young and untrained minds, and so in the last chapter I have tried to deal with this question.
My object has been to estimate and explain the mental qualifications, either natural or acquired, which are necessary for good conversation rather than to give an account of how people do in fact talk to each other, or to lay down rules about the best manner of conducting discussion. I have tried to indicate this by the title I have chosen, because I am anxious that no one should be misled into thinking that they will find herein a handy guide to conversational formularies.
STANLEY M. BLIGH"
