New York: Horace Liveright, 1928. Hardcover first edition - Her first novel (second book) was, and still is, an incredible achievement. "vulgar, beautiful, defiant, witty, poetic, and a little mad. Told as through a kaleidoscope, the chronicle of the Ryder family is a bawdy tale of eccentricity and anarchy; through sparkling detours and pastiche, an audacious, intricate story of sexuality, power, and praxis. Ryder, like its namesake, Wendell Ryder, is many things - lyric, prose, fable, illustration; protagonist, bastard, bohemian, polygamist. Born in the 1800s to infamous nonconformist Sophia Grieve Ryder, Wendell's search for identity takes him from Connecticut to England to multifarious digressions on morality, tradition, and gender." (Dalkey Press) Censored before publication, and with a first edition limited to only 3000 copies, Ryder's portrayal of sexuality remains revolutionary despite the passing of time and the expurgations in the text, preserved by Barnes with asterisks (as she noted in her forward) in protest of the war 'blindly raged against the written word.' With illustrations by the Author. xi, 323 pp.