"THE ESSENCE OF LIFE IS ADAPTABILITY-; IT GOES INTO PARTNERSHIP WITH THE FORCES AND CONDITIONS THAT SURROUND IT"
BURROUGHS, John. The Breath of Life. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1915. Octavo, original green cloth.
First edition, second printing, with superb Burroughs' inscription that reads "The essence of life is adaptability-; it goes into partnership with the forces & conditions that surround it. John Burroughs [January] 18, 1916."
"As life nears its end with me, I find myself meditating more and more upon the mystery of its nature and origin, yet without the least hope that I can find out the ways of the Eternal in this or in any other world… I have set down in these pages all the thoughts that have come to me on this subject. I have not aimed so much at consistency as at clearness and definiteness of statement, letting my mind drift as upon a shoreless sea." Second issue, without publisher's imprint on page 296. BAL 2189.
Interior fine, two small marks to cloth on spine. An extremely good copy.