THE WAY OF ALL FLESH Introduction by Theodore Dreiser

2 volumes. LIMITED EDITION, one of only 1500 hand-numbered copies designed by Carl Purington Rollins and printed at the Yale University Press. SIGNED by the illustrator, Robert-Ward Johnson Illustrated by Robert-Ward Johnson, who has signed the colophon of volume two, with numerous full page drawings and even more numerous smaller drawings in line style in black on tan backgrounds 8vo, publisher’s original jet black imitation morocco with multiple rules in blind, the spine boldly gilt lettered above columns made of bright gilt vertical lines, with further gilt lettering below, in the glossy red paper-covered slipcase lettered in white. xxx, 262; [4] 267-592, [1] pp. A mint and as pristine set, the books are as fine as one could ever hope to find, fresh and clean with no evidence of use or age, this is especially uncommon as the black binding normally shows wear easily. Even the slipcase is nearly as fine, bright clean and unworn and just showing a few very minor marks from age.

Edizione: limited and signed edition for club members only of samuel butler's acclaimed semi-autobiographical attack on victorian hypocrisy. the illustrations are by robert-ward johnson. in a review of the l.e.c. way of all flesh for the new york times edward laroque tinker wrote: "it would be difficult to imagine any illustrations more sympathetic and truly delightful than robert ward johnson's. mr. johnson is a faultless draftsman, and has humor and a fine feeling for decoration." <br> the way of all flesh is butler’s most revealing work. he labored on it for many years and it was not published until one year after his death. the story is a semi-autobiographical novel about the effects on one man’s life of four generations of inherited family traits. the book received much critical praise, headed by george bernard shaw, and reached the height of its popularity during the 1920s. this work should be of particular interest with the decoding of the human genome.<br> samuel butler was the son of a clergy man and grandson of a bishop, yet religious doubts prevented him from taking holy orders himself. although many of his early works were highly praised by charles darwin, he later produced a series of works of scientific controversy directed against darwin’s theory of natural selection. butler’s views won him the praise of g.b. shaw. shaw also admired his outspoken views on religion and money and shaw praised them publicly in his preface to major barbara:<br> “it drives one almost to despair of english literature when one sees so extraordinary a study of english life as butler’s posthumous ‘way of all flesh’ making so little impression that when, some years later, i produce plays in which butler’s extraordinarily fresh free and future-piercing suggestions have an obvious share, i am met with nothing but vague cacklings about ibsen and nietzsche.really, the english do not deserve to have great men.”<br>