The Way of All Flesh

Grant Richards, London, 1903 is the true first, confirming the census claim; there is no competing simultaneous edition. E.P. Dutton, New York, issued the first American edition in 1910 — the census year is right — but note that several dealers misdescribe Dutton's 1916 printing as the first American, so check the date on the title page. The more important 'first thus' point is textual rather than national: the 1903 text is Streatfeild's, and he made substantial changes to Butler's manuscript. Butler's unaltered manuscript text was not published until 1964, as 'Ernest Pontifex, or The Way of All Flesh', edited by Daniel F. Howard (Houghton Mifflin, Boston) — a first appearance of the true text, not a first edition of the book.