THE EVOLUTION OF WORLDS Percival Lowell 1909 planetary astronomy, Mars & beyond For Sale

THE EVOLUTION OF WORLDSby Percival Lowell. Macmillan (New York), 1909, First Edition.Hardcover (buckram/cloth) with gold leaf on top of page block.No dustjacket, as issued. Previous owner's bookplate inside front cover.
Lowell was a wealthy New England businessman, author, mathematician, and diplomat who loved astronomy, built an observatory, and became obsessed with Mars and its canals (which ultimately proved to be nonexistent) along with the possibility of finding life there, if not a thriving civilization (alas, wrong again...)
Nevertheless, THIS book (unlike his others) is still considered important, sound and relevant — and often a required reading in the study of planetary astronomy.