Aldous Huxley's 15th Birthday PresenT
Essays on Life Art and Science
A.C. Fifield, 1908.
Reissue. Original green cloth lettered in black. From the library of Aldous Huxley, with his early ownership inscription, "A.L.Huxley July 26th 1909" to the front endpaper. A very good copy, some uneven fading and dustiness. Later bookplate of Newport Reference Library and index number to spine. Internally in good order, with some foxing to the text.
Huxley's inscription marks his fifteenth birthday and the subject matter reflects the change in his interest at the time from the family scientific study of his youth to literature and the arts. The last chapter, "The Deadlock in Darwinism", might have been of particular interest. Huxley's grandfather, T.H. Huxley, had been a famously outspoken advocate for Darwin's theory of evolution and Huxley's brother, Julian, was at about the time of the inscription at an international gathering in Cambridge to celebrate the centenary of Darwin's birth.
The author would also be of interest to him. Huxley is known to have read and enjoyed Butler's best known work, a dystopian novel, Erewhon. Huxley later provided an introduction for the 1934 reissue of Erewhon, in which he acknowledges it as the inspiration for his recently published, Brave New World.
PROVENANCE: Aldous Huxley (ownership inscription).
Stock ID: 31238
Sold
We have sold this item, but similar items
may become available in the future
