London: Faber and Faber Ltd., 1936. First edition. Octavo. Publisher’s cloth in original dust jacket (not price-clipped). One-inch closed tear to top of front dust jacket, one-inch chip to top of rear dust jacket and head of spine, and chip to bottom spine, else minor edgewear and smudging to dust jacket. Minor spotting to pastedowns and free endpapers. Near-fine in very good dust jacket. Item #62

An uncommon copy of Michael Oakeshott’s (1901–1990) only non-academic published work, which offers a studied analysis on—of all things—how to successfully bet on horse racing. Co-authored with Oakeshott’s Cambridge colleague, Guy T. Griffith, A Guide to the Classics, or How to Pick the Derby Winner analyzes how to successfully evaluate and reduce the field to a handful of likely contenders. The dust jacket to this interesting work provides that “[t]his is not just a joke but a serious study of an enthralling problem. The authors explain how to draw commonsense conclusions from the facts of Breeding and Form, and so reduce the list of possible winners to three or four.” The book’s final chapter “brings together all the considerations which must be taken into account in picking the winner, and ends with two fully worked out examples—1933 and 1936.” Oakeshott, the influential conservative scholar and author of Rationalism in Politics and Other Essays, here marshals his towering intellect to help horse racing enthusiasts realize their dreams at the track. A quirky and interesting work by one of the twentieth century’s greatest political thinkers—and a work that is uncommon in this condition.

Price: $450.00