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Jones, Henry Festing (1851-1928).MareMagnum

SAMUEL BUTLER - AUTHOR OF EREWHON (1835-1902). A MEMOIR.

1919Two volumes. pp. (xxx) 448; (x) 531 + Plates. 8vo. 22 cm. Original publisher's cloth binding. Rockwell Kent designed bookplate of Maxwell Steinhardt. The text includes: "A Short Bibliography of the W itings of Samuel Butler and of the Books and Articles Concerning Him". Samuel Butler was born in Langar, Nottinghamshire. The son of a clergyman and grandson of a Bishop, he was educated at Shrewsbury and St John's College, Cambridge. He emigrated to New Zealand in 1859, where he achieved success as a sheep-farmer. His letters home to his father were compiled to form 'A First Year in Canterbury Settlement' (1863), which later became the core of his most popular work, 'Erewhon'. He returned to England in 1864, having accumulated a small fortune, and settled in Clifford's Inn, where he stayed until his death. In 1872 he published 'Erewhon' (an anagram for nowhere) anonymously. It attacked contemporary attitudes on morals, religion, education, and science by describing a land where (among other things) illness is considered a crime. Sick people are thrown in jail, as their sickness is their own fault. Sad people are also imprisoned, for grief is a sign of misfortune and people are held responsible for the actions that made them unfortunate. People who rob or murder, on the other hand, are treated generously and taken to the hospital to recover from their affliction. No machines are allowed in Erewhon, as a philosopher once speculated that machines could rapidly evolve and would take over the world. Students study anything that has absolutely no practical purpose at the University of Unreason. The book was scintillatingly popular. It still can be read with great enjoyment and relevance today. During the next decade Butler wrote a series of controversial scientific works. They were distinctly anti-Darwin, and especially opposed to certain aspects of the theory of natural selection. He also began experimenting in musical composition, and collaborated with his friend (and later biographer) Henry Festing Jones on the oratorio 'Narcissus' (1880). In 1896 he published the biography of his grandfather, Bishop Samuel Butler. Today, his best-known work is probably 'The Way of Al l Flesh'. It was the thoughtful result of many years of hard labor, but did not appear in his lifetime. "I am the 'enfant terrible' of literature and science. If I cannot (and I know I cannot) get the literary and scientific big-wigs to give me a shilling. I can (and I know I can) heave bricks into the middle of them" - Samuel Butler, 'Notebooks' **PRICE JUST REDUCED! W140

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