Shaw, George Bernard. Back to Methuselah. London; Constable;, 1921.
Price: US$12.80 + shipping
Description: First edition, first printing thus. Very good, with an ownership inscription, in green/brown cloth. Lacks dustjacket. Note, ABE will suggest this is a signed copy. This is not the case - the book is NOT signed by the author.
Seller: timkcbooks (Member of Booksellers Association), Penzance, United Kingdom
Price: US$20.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Brentano's, New York, New York, U.S.A., 1921. Sixth (6th) Printing (December, 1921) of First (1st) Edition. First Printing was in May, 1921. Note that this work was published simultaneously by Constable in London and Brentano's in New York. Near Fine condition. No Dust Jacket. The Text Block is clean, off-white, tight, straight and square with a light green topstain, deckled fore-edges, and no markings of any kind. The Binding is full green cloth with sporadic loss of color, paper paste-on title, etc., to spine, and all corners square. No Dust Jacket. See photos. ci + 300 pages. 5 1/4" x 7 1/2". The work consists of a preface (The Infidel Half Century) of 101 pages, followed by five plays: In the Beginning: B.C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden), The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920. They were first performed in New York City in 1922. Some have called this a work of science fiction.
Seller: Mattabesset Books, Kensington, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$21.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Thick octavo. Pale green cloth, gilt spine. xci,[1],267,[1] pp. Light shelf wear at lower spine, endsheets toned, else a very good copy, without a dust jacket. This title has a lengthy preface by Bernard Shaw entitled "The Infidel Half Century," followed by a series of five plays "In the Beginning: B.C. 4004" (In the Garden of Eden); "The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day"; "The Thing Happens: A.D. 2170"; "Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000"; and "As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31,920". The plays were first performed in 1922 by the New York Theatre Guild at the Garrick Theatre. .
Seller: Second Wind Books, LLC, New Haven, CT, U.S.A.
Price: US$24.97 + shipping
Description: 180mm x 110mm (7" x 4"). lxxxix, 267pp. G : in Good condition without dust jacket. Cover rubbed. Some foxing
Seller: Barter Books Ltd, Alnwick, NORTH, United Kingdom
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 1st thus, for Constable & Co. 12mo., lxxxvii, 267pp. Bound in light green cloth with title, year and author on spine in gilt. Edges untrimmed. Rear hinge starting. Boards and pages with minor finger soiling. Spine top & bottom rubbed. A Very good copy.
Seller: Frey Fine Books, Rougemont, NC, U.S.A.
Price: US$26.25 + shipping
Description: 8°, 266 S. unbeschnittene goldgeprägte OLwd. Einband etwas berieben und fleckig, Vorsatz stockfleckig Prägeexlibris von Dr. Bircher - Benner. Schlagworte: Literatur*Englisch/ englishExlibris* Versandkosten können abweichen. PayPal on request. Für Schweizer Kunden: Versand von Zürich möglich und günstiger. Zahlung mit CH- Einzahlungsschein.
Seller: Antiquariat Niedersaetz Berlin-Zürich, Berlin, Germany
Price: US$28.50 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition. 8vo. Original green cloth stamped in gilt, uncut (light soiling; spine toned), else good. 267 pages + 82 page preface. No dust jacket. Printed in Great Britain by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
Seller: Houle Rare Books/Autographs/ABAA/PADA, Palm Springs, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$37.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 268 pp. Original pale green cloth covers w/ gilt title on spine. Binding lightly soiled w/ light fraying to corners and spine ends. Covers cocked. Spine darkened. Pencil notes on front blank endpaper. Natural toning to blank endpapers; light scattered foxing.
Seller: Shoemaker Booksellers, Gettysburg, PA, U.S.A.
Shaw, George Bernard.. Back To Methuselah. A Metabiological Pentateuch.. London: Constable., 1921.
Price: US$75.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 12mo. 267 pp. Very Good, Mustard Cloth, Dust Jacket with tears, minor losses, tape repairs, & sun-staining; boards with rubbing, stains, sun-fading, edge wear; some staining on end papers; some shelf wear. Provenance: John Ruyle, his bookplate inside cover. Mylar Jacket. First Edition.
Seller: Wittenborn Art Books, San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$114.95 + shipping
Description: First edition, with autograph letter from the author's wife mounted to front pastedown; 8vo; minor toning; publisher's sage cloth, upper hinge pulling, backstrip partly detached, marked and rubbed. The short letter from Charlotte Shaw nee Payne-Townshend is written to one 'Munro', sending this book and hoping to arrange a rendezvous imminently, signed C.T. Shaw and dated 24 June 1924.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
George Bernard Shaw,. Back to Methuselah. Constable and Company London, 1921.
Price: US$160.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: some foxing, Language: eng Language: eng 0.0 Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng Language: eng
Seller: Ian Thompson, Milton, ON, Canada
SHAW, George Bernard.. Back to Methuselah. A Metabiological Pentateuch.. Constable, London., 1921.
Price: US$192.04 + shipping
Description: First U.K. edition (preceded by the U.S. edition). Octavo. pp xcii, 267. Small gift inscription on front pastedown (under the dustwrapper flap). Edges slightly spotted. Very good indeed in very good, slightly chipped and nicked dustwrapper with a tear along the fold of the front flap repaired on the reverse.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Hardcover. 8vo. Constable and Company Ltd. 1921. 267 pgs. First Edition/First Printing. DJ has shelf-wear, rubbing present to the DJ especially around the extremities (chipping present to the top of DJ). No ownership marks present. Rear endpaper missing. Text is clean and free of marks, binding tight and solid, boards clean with no wear present. Back to Methuselah (A Metabiological Pentateuch) by George Bernard Shaw consists of a preface (An Infidel Half Century) and a series of five plays: In the Beginning: B. C. 4004 (In the Garden of Eden) , The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day, The Thing Happens: A. D. 2170, Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A. D. 3000, and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A. D. 31,920. Michael Holroyd describes the plays as "a masterpiece of wishful thinking" and calls them science fiction. Methuselah is said to be Shaw's only real engagement with science fiction. Shaw uses science fictioneering in Methuselah to add plausibility to scenarios and to keep readers entertained while he propounds his vision of the human destiny. His prime interest was not scientific, but political, as stated in the Preface where he discusses changes he considers essential before mankind can govern itself successfully. The final play, As Far as the Mind Can Reach, offers no solution to the problem: Humans evolve to the point of becoming free-ranging vortices of energy, able to wander, solitary, through the Universe, thus requiring no government at all. Furthermore, one of Shaw's last plays, Farfetched Fables (1950) also classifies as science fiction, and The Simpleton of the Unexpected Isles (1934) comes close to qualifying. Shaw had an exalted opinion of Back to Methuselah as both literature and philosophy; in the press release he wrote for its publishers (Constable & Co. London) he said it would "interest biologists, religious leaders, and lovers of the marvellous in fiction as well as lovers of the theatre" and described it as his supreme work in dramatic literature. He considered it a book for reading rather than playing on the stage, and was agreeably surprised when Lawrence Langner in New York and Barry Vincent Jackson in Birmingham insisted on producing it despite expectations of monetary loss, which were promptly justified. Unlike the plays Shaw wrote for staging, which include precise descriptions of the settings, the details of stage settings for Methuselah are sketchy and serve only to direct the imagination of the reader. When, e. G. , the stage director for the Birmingham production asked how the Serpent was to be presented, Shaw responded with a clumsy sketch and suggested an artist be employed to design costume, colouring and lighting. The BBC, in contrast, was able to provide lavish scenery by sheer power of description for its 1958 radio production of the entire play. E-72; 8vo 8" - 9" tall
Seller: Last Exit Books, Charlottesville, VA, U.S.A.
SHAW, George Bernard.. Back to Methuselah. A Metabiological Pentateuch.. Constable, London., 1921.
Price: US$224.05 + shipping
Description: First U.K. edition (preceded by the U.S. edition). Octavo. pp xcii, 267. Later binding for Hatchards of three quarter red morocco with raised bands, gilt rules, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt.Fine.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Shaw, George Bernard. Back to Methuselah. A Metabiological Pentateuch. London: Constable, 1921.
Price: US$225.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Small octavo, green cloth lettered in gilt, with a touch of soiling. First English edition. Edwin Bachmann's copy, with the noted violinist's bookplate on the front pastedown. A striking copy enclosed in a custom-made folding box.
Seller: North Star Rare Books & Manuscripts, Sheffield, MA, U.S.A.
Shaw, George Bernard. BACK TO METHUSELAH. Constable, 1921.
Price: US$319.00 + shipping
Description: BACK TO METHUSELAH, Constable, 1921, first edition, light scattered foxing to the t.p.e.'s, else near fine in like dust-wrapper.
Seller: THE FINE BOOKS COMPANY / A.B.A.A / 1979, ROCHESTER, MI, U.S.A.
Price: US$880.34 + shipping
Description: XCI, 267 pp. 8vo. Half dark blue morocco, spine in 6 compartments with gilt lettering, top edge gilt, lower edge partly uncut (by Riviere & son). London, (Clark, Edinburgh, for) Constable & Company, 1921. First English edition, the American edition published by Brentano was issued shortly before. Shaw's ( 1856-1950) play was first produced at the Garrick Theatre in New York in 1922, the first English performance was given in Birmingham in 1923. "Back to Methuselah" consists of five parts, in fact individual dramas, entitled: At the Beginning: 4004 B.C.; The Gospel of the Brothers Barnabas: Present Day; The Thing Happens, A.D. 2170; Tragedy of an Elderly Gentleman: A.D. 3000; and As Far as Thought Can Reach: A.D. 31920. The cycle is considered Shaw's main philosophical work, interpreting the history of mankind from the Garden of Eden to the present, with visions of things to come in the far future. It is based on ideas of Lamarck, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche, and Bergson. If the play lacks in action, it certainly shows convincing originality of thought. - KNLL XV, 368. LITERATURE: ENGLISH ;
Seller: Hellmut Schumann Antiquariat, Zurich, Switzerland
Shaw, George Bernard. Back to Methuselah. A Metabiological Pentateuch. Constable & Co, London, 1921.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Description: First English edition. 1 vols. 8vo. Inscribed to Lillah McCarthy. Inscribed on the flyleaf to Lillah McCarthy, the prominent English actress of the 20's: "To Lillah / from G.B.S." Shaw was close personal and professional friend of McCarthy's and contributed a Foreword to her memoirs, MYSELF AND MY FRIENDS (1933). Laurence A161b Original pale green cloth, spine slightly darkened, copious pencilled notes by previous owner on endpapers, stamp of "Lillah McCarthy Productions Ltd." on flyleaf, and McCarthy's signature as "Lady Keeble", of Oxford
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition of this collection of plays by the Nobel Prize-winning playwright. Octavo, original cloth. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page in the year of publication, "To H.S.S from G.B.S 22nd June 1921." Near fine in a near fine dust jacket. Housed in a custom half morocco and chemise box. Rare in the original dust jacket and inscribed. These plays were written during 1918 to 1920 and published by Constable (London) and Brentano's (New York) in 1921. They were first performed in 1922 by the New York Theatre Guild at the old Garrick Theatre in New York City and, in Britain, at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre in 1923.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$3750.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition. Hardcover. Signed by Author. Shaw, George Bernard. BACK TO METHUSELAH. A Metabiological Pentateuch. Inscribed. London: Constable and Company, Ltd., 1921. "You see things; you say, 'Why?' But I dream things that never were; and I say 'Why not?" First English Edition; preceded by the New York edition, which Shaw condemned for its numerous misprints. 8vo., 267 pp. Publisher's gilt- stamped light mossy green cloth. A significant presentation copy inscribed in black fountain pen on the half-title: "To Robert Loraine / from G. Bernard Shaw. / 16th June 1921". Loraine [1876-1935] was a man of action: actor-manager, soldier, aviator, Fabian & of course, a close friend to Shaw - perhaps best known as an actor he's see most commonly on holiday with the Shaws & Harley Granville-Barker or at Fabian events. Loraine & Shaw shared political affiliations & a passion for theatre: it was Loraine who premiered as the lead in the Man & Superman on Broadway, the production was massively successful & launched Shaw as a force to be reckoned with in the States. A very good or better example in like dustwrapper that has had one tear on the upper spine archivally repaired along with several small chips at the corners. A very nice copy. Custom TBCL embossed cloth slipcase in fine condition. Laurence, Bernard Shaw: A Bibliography, A161.
Seller: TBCL The Book Collector's Library, Montreal, QC, Canada