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The Way of All Flesh.
by Butler, Samuel
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: A.C. Fifield, 1919. Finely bound example of Butler's semi-autobiographical Bildungsroman. Octavo, bound in three quarters morocco over marbled boards by Sangorski and Sutcliffe with gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, red morocco spine label lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. In very good condition. Written between 1873 and 1884, Butler's The Way of All Flesh was published posthumously in 1903, as Butler dared not publish the attack on Victorian-era hypocrisy during his lifetime. Tracing four generations of the Pontifeux family, the novel has been praised by numerous authors including George Bernard Shaw, George Orwell, and A.A. Milne who stated in his essay A Household Book: "Once upon a time I discovered Samuel Butler; not the other two, but the one who wrote The Way of All Flesh, the second-best novel in the English language. I say the second-best, so that, if you remind me of Tom Jones, or The Mayor of Casterbridge, or any other that you fancy, I can say, of course, that one is the best." The Way of All Flesh has remained in print since its initial publication and in 1998, the Modern Library ranked it twelfth on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Synopsis
The Way of All Flesh by Samuel Butler is a semi-autobiographical novel that attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. The story traces the history of the Pontifex family from the early eighteenth century until about 1880 and focuses, for the most part, on the life of young Ernest Pontifex, the novel’s protagonist. Yet Ernest isn’t born until 1835, in the book’s 17th chapter. Butler uses the first 16 chapters to provide a psychological portrait of the Pontifex family background as a means of allowing readers to understand what factors have gone into forming Ernest’s personality and the longevity of the chains of tradition he must break. Upon publication in 1903, the book seemed very much of its time, an early 20th century groundbreaker alongside the work of Sigmund Freud and Pablo Picasso. The Way of All Flesh seemed to celebrate the end of the Victorian age just as it was decidedly over. But in fact, Butler had written the book decades earlier, between 1873 and 1884, though he deemed it too shocking for publication during his lifetime. As a result, Richard Alexander Streatfeild, a friend of Butler’s, arranged the publication — as the author requested of him — a year after his death. Streatfeild proved to be a good friend indeed as The Way of All Flesh was ranked twelfth on the Modern Library’s list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.
Read More: Identifying first editions of The Way of All Flesh.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Raptis Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 109527
- Title
- The Way of All Flesh.
- Author
- Butler, Samuel
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- A.C. Fifield
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1919
- Keywords
- Samuel Butler, sangorski-and-sutcliffe, The Way of All Flesh
Terms of Sale
Raptis Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed.
About the Seller
Raptis Rare Books
Biblio member since 2012
Palm Beach, Florida
About Raptis Rare Books
Founded by Matthew and Adrienne Raptis, Raptis Rare Books is an antiquarian book firm that specializes in literature, children's books, economics, photo books, signed and inscribed books, and landmark books in all fields. Our business model is simple: we strive to handle books that are in exceptional condition and to provide exceptional customer service.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Morocco
- Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
- Marbled boards
- ...
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Top Edge Gilt
- Top edge gilt refers to the practice of applying gold or a gold-like finish to the top of the text block (the edges the pages...
- Spine Label
- The paper or leather descriptive tag attached to the spine of the book, most commonly providing the title and author of the...
- Gilt
- The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
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