Possibly one of the best texts ever for teaching the calculus series. My understanding is that CCNY's (late) Prof. Schwartz managed to "nail it" with this edition, as the previous and subsequent ones weren't nearly as clear. Unlike most contemporary textbooks, this one jumps right in with derivatives, continues with integrals, and saves the introduction of limits for much later (after review of plane geometry and trig functions, respectively). Believe it or not, the intuition is much clearer when presented in this way, and makes for greater comprehension overall.

Please note that this text isn't "friendly" by today's standards in that it doesn't contain such extras as thumbnail sketches of math luminaries and color illustrations; such "omissions," however, are more than compensated for by its extremely high level of pedagogical clarity.

There's also a comprehensive but extremely difficult-to-read (teeny font...that claims to be enlarged!/handwritten notes) student solutions manual that's most definitely worth seeking out, but it doesn't turn up very often (translation: grab it if you find it). Don't waste your time looking for it on Amazon; it's not listed.

Appropriate for self-instruction for students with a solid pre-calc foundation.