Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch

New York: Limited Editions Club, 1939. 1263 of 1500 printed. Bound in heavy green cloth. Green on top edges. Spine and front cover have a green morocco label with gilt letters. Feels as if it had never been opened. Each black & white illustration was engraved in wood by the illustrator. Signed by the illustrator on the last printed page. Slipcase is dark green and is soiled and faded along the back spine. Overall a EXCELLENT book in a GOOD slipcase. George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856–2 November 1950) was a world-renowned Irish author. Born in Dublin, he moved to London when he turned twenty. Having rejected formal schooling (toward which he had an enduring antipathy), he educated himself by independent study in the reading room of the British Museum; he also began his career there by writing novels for which he could not find a publisher. His first success was as a music and literary critic, but he was drawn to drama and authored more than sixty plays during his career. Typically his work is leavened by a delightful vein of comedy, but nearly all of it bears earnest messages Shaw hoped his audiences would embrace. Politically an ardent socialist, he wrote many brochures and speeches for the Fabian Society and became an accomplished orator in furtherance of its causes. Those included gaining equal political rights for men and women, alleviating abuses of the working class, rescinding private ownership of land and promoting healthful lifestyles. He married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, a fellow Fabian, whom he survived. They made their home in Ayot St. Lawrence in a house now called Shaw's Corner. Shaw died there, aged 94, from chronic problems exacerbated by injuries incurred on falling from a ladder. He remains the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize (1925) for his contribution to literature and an Oscar (1938) for Pygmalion. . Signed by Illustrator. First Edition Thus. Full Linen. Near Fine. Illus. by Farleigh, John. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Hardcover.