1944 International Collectors Library, The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler, collectors books, rare books, old books, illustrated collector

1944 International Collectors Library, The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler, collectors books, rare books, old books, illustrated collector

1944 International Collectors Library edition of Samuel Butler’s “The Way of All Flesh,” illustrated by André Durcenau.

The Way of All Flesh (sometimes called Ernest Pontifex, or the Way of All Flesh) is a semi-autobiographical novel by Samuel Butler that attacks Victorian-era hypocrisy. Written between 1873 and 1884, it traces four generations of the Pontifex family. Butler dared not publish it during his lifetime, but when it was published (in 1903) it was accepted as part of the general reaction against Victorianism. In its posthumous publication in 1903, Butler’s first literary executor, R. A. Streatfeild, made substantial changes to Butler’s manuscript. The original manuscript was first published in 1964 by Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, edited by Daniel F. Howard.