SAMUEL BUTLER'S BOOKS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 55, 6 March 1937, Page 27

SAMUEL BUTLER'S BOOKS

At a recent sale at Hodgson's, of London, the highest price paid among the modern first editions was for Butler's "The. Way of AH Flesh," which sold for £17. A presentation copy of "Erewhon Revisited," with an interesting letter from the author referring to this book,.brought £.12 10s, but no other, first edition of Butler realised_ a high price. In the period 1923-1920 his books were more popular among collectors as the comparative auction prices which follow will show:—"The Fair Haven" and three other first editions, £2 ("Fair Haven" alone £10 15s, 1923); "Life and Habit" and "Ex Voto," £2 6s, the latter was not a first edition ("Life and Habit" £3 10s, 1925); "The Authoress of the Odyssey," presentation copy from the author, £3 (£ll, 1925); "The Odyssey, Rendered into English Prose," presentation copy,' £3 15s (£3. 1925, not presentation); "On the Trapanese Origin of the Odyssey." and seven others, £1 16s ("Trapanese Origin" alone' £8 15s, 1925); "Shakespeare's Sonnets," presentation copy, £4 4s (£34, 1925); "Essays on Life," "Note Books," and two others,. £2 2s. ("Essays" £2 Bs, 1923.) "Note Books" (£3 2s, 1925).