The Age of Louis XIV was published by Simon & Schuster in 1963. The eighth volume covered the period from the Peace of Westphalia (1648) to the death of Louis XIV (1715) — the era when France under the Sun King became the dominant cultural and political power in Europe. The Durants treated the full range of European civilization during this period: the court of Versailles, the dramas of Molière and Racine, the philosophy of Spinoza and Leibniz, the science of Newton and Huygens, the music of Purcell and Lully.
The Durants’ Louis XIV is a complex portrait — a man of genuine cultural sophistication and administrative ability who was also a vain, warmongering autocrat whose wars drained France’s treasury and whose revocation of the Edict of Nantes drove hundreds of thousands of Huguenots into exile.
Collecting The Age of Louis XIV
First edition (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1963): Cloth binding with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $25–$60
- Very good: $10–$25
Projected values (2026–2036): Modest appreciation.
The Sun King’s Era
The Age of Louis XIV (1963) is Volume VIII, covering European civilization from 1648 to 1715. The Sun King dominates the volume, and Durant’s portrait of Versailles — its splendor, its cost, its cultural achievements, and its human toll — is magnificent. The volume also covers Newton, Leibniz, Locke, Spinoza, and the Dutch Golden Age. Durant argues that Louis XIV’s reign represented both the peak and the beginning of the decline of absolute monarchy.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do the later volumes differ from the earlier ones? They are more focused geographically (primarily Europe) and more polished stylistically. The collaboration with Ariel produced tighter, more vivid prose. The trade-off is that the global scope of the early volumes narrows to a predominantly Western European story.