FINGERPRINT CLASSIFICATION AND EUGENICS
Finger prints.
London.
Macmillan and Co., 1892.
First edition.
xvi, 216pp. With a half-title and 16 plates.
[Together with:] GALTON, Francis. Supplementary chapter to 'finger prints' decipherment of blurred finger prints. London. Macmillan and Co., 1893. First edition. [2], 18pp. With 16 plates.
[And:] GALTON, Francis. Fingerprint directories. London. Macmillan and Co., 1895. First edition. [8], 127pp, [1]. With a half-tile and nine plates.
[And:] GALTON, Francis. Hereditary genius an inquiry into its laws and consequences. London. Macmillan and Co., 1892. Second edition. xxvii, [5], 379pp. [5]. With a half title and two terminal advertisement leaves.
In four near-uniform 8vo volumes. Original publisher's burgundy cloth, gilt. Some fading and spotting to spines.
[Together with:] GALTON, Francis. Supplementary chapter to 'finger prints' decipherment of blurred finger prints. London. Macmillan and Co., 1893. First edition. [2], 18pp. With 16 plates.
[And:] GALTON, Francis. Fingerprint directories. London. Macmillan and Co., 1895. First edition. [8], 127pp, [1]. With a half-tile and nine plates.
[And:] GALTON, Francis. Hereditary genius an inquiry into its laws and consequences. London. Macmillan and Co., 1892. Second edition. xxvii, [5], 379pp. [5]. With a half title and two terminal advertisement leaves.
In four near-uniform 8vo volumes. Original publisher's burgundy cloth, gilt. Some fading and spotting to spines.
The complete output in print of statistician Francis Galton's (1822-1911) research into fingerprint analysis, in first edition form. Prior to pursuing investigations into biostatistics, Galton had distinguished himself through his research into inheritance, notably disproving Darwin's theory of pangenesis.
His experience led to him establishing the patterns of an individual's fingerprints do not alter with age, allowing them to be used for personal identification. To which end Galton developed a taxonomic system by which these patterns could be described and catalogued.
The near uniform second edition of Hereditary Genius included here - originally published in 1869, the first serious work on the inheritance of intelligence - is also accompanied by a new, lengthy introduction by Galton. Noting that original was 'a work published twenty-three years ago...long...unpurchaseable, except at second-hand and at fancy prices', with 'a dew staring errata', the author adds several comments which surely reflect his development of eugenicist ideas - indeed coining the term in his Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development (London, 1893) between the first and this second edition. These include overtly racist commentary regarding the colonisation of Africa and the 'transplantation' of 'The Negro' from Africa to America, which Galton also connects to the destruction of 'native American races', and highly questionable assertions relating to demographic restrictions.
£ 2,000.00
Antiquates Ref: 32941
His experience led to him establishing the patterns of an individual's fingerprints do not alter with age, allowing them to be used for personal identification. To which end Galton developed a taxonomic system by which these patterns could be described and catalogued.
The near uniform second edition of Hereditary Genius included here - originally published in 1869, the first serious work on the inheritance of intelligence - is also accompanied by a new, lengthy introduction by Galton. Noting that original was 'a work published twenty-three years ago...long...unpurchaseable, except at second-hand and at fancy prices', with 'a dew staring errata', the author adds several comments which surely reflect his development of eugenicist ideas - indeed coining the term in his Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development (London, 1893) between the first and this second edition. These include overtly racist commentary regarding the colonisation of Africa and the 'transplantation' of 'The Negro' from Africa to America, which Galton also connects to the destruction of 'native American races', and highly questionable assertions relating to demographic restrictions.
