First edition, first printing. Minor shelf and handling wear, overall a clean solid copy with minimal signs of use. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1949. First edition of Merton's companion volume to his famed The Seven Storey Mountain. Blue cloth and gilt lettering. In mylar; price unclipped. Prior owner's name at title page. Secure packaging for safe delivery.
An examination of the roots of the Cistercian Order, founded in 1098, its development and waning, and the seventeenth-century reforms by the Abb? de Ranc?, which began the second flowering that continues today. Throughout, Merton illuminates the purposes of monasticism. Index; photographs.