Details
LAMARCK, Jean Baptiste de (1744-1829). Histoire naturelle des animaux sans vertbres. Paris: Verdire [vols. 1-3]; Dterville and verdire [vols. 4-5]; the author [vol. 6-7], 1815-1822.
7 volumes, 8o (197 x 125 mm). 8 half-titles, vol. 6 in 2 parts, separately paginated. (Occasional light foxing.) 19th-century half calf, rebacked in modern morocco (corners worn).
Provenance: Alexander Macleay (1767-1848), entomologist (presentation inscription from the author on versos of the half-titles in vols. 1 and 5, Macleay's signature on versos of titles of vols. 2-7; William Sharp Macleay (1792-1865), zoologist, son of A. Macleay (signatures on half-titles of vols. 6 and 7; Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856- 1943), who donated this copy in January 1925 to: the Linnean Society of London (bookplates).
PRESENTATION COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. Along with the Philosophie zoologique, the best known exposition of Lamarck's theory of evolution appears in the introduction to this comprehensive treatise on invertebrates. Here he summarized his evolutionary views in four laws: "the natural tendency toward increasing organic complexity; the evolution of new organs in animals through the indirect influence of the environment; alteration of the body through the acquisition of new habits; and the inheritance of acquired characteristics" (Norman). "Too much energy has been spent attacking this last law; because it represents an assumption not believed today, it has been said that this disproves Lamarck's whole theory of evolution. The historical context of Lamarck's thought has been forgotten. Most of his contemporaries believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, so much so that they rarely felt any need to offer proof of it" (DSB).
Garrison-Morton 316; Wellcome III, p. 435; Norman 1268. (7)
7 volumes, 8o (197 x 125 mm). 8 half-titles, vol. 6 in 2 parts, separately paginated. (Occasional light foxing.) 19th-century half calf, rebacked in modern morocco (corners worn).
Provenance: Alexander Macleay (1767-1848), entomologist (presentation inscription from the author on versos of the half-titles in vols. 1 and 5, Macleay's signature on versos of titles of vols. 2-7; William Sharp Macleay (1792-1865), zoologist, son of A. Macleay (signatures on half-titles of vols. 6 and 7; Edward Bagnall Poulton (1856- 1943), who donated this copy in January 1925 to: the Linnean Society of London (bookplates).
PRESENTATION COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION. Along with the Philosophie zoologique, the best known exposition of Lamarck's theory of evolution appears in the introduction to this comprehensive treatise on invertebrates. Here he summarized his evolutionary views in four laws: "the natural tendency toward increasing organic complexity; the evolution of new organs in animals through the indirect influence of the environment; alteration of the body through the acquisition of new habits; and the inheritance of acquired characteristics" (Norman). "Too much energy has been spent attacking this last law; because it represents an assumption not believed today, it has been said that this disproves Lamarck's whole theory of evolution. The historical context of Lamarck's thought has been forgotten. Most of his contemporaries believed in the inheritance of acquired characteristics, so much so that they rarely felt any need to offer proof of it" (DSB).
Garrison-Morton 316; Wellcome III, p. 435; Norman 1268. (7)