Erasmus Darwin, 1794-96

The First All-Embracing Hypothesis of Evolution
Erasmus Darwin, 1794-96
DARWIN, Erasmus (1731-1802). Zoonomia, or The Laws of Organic Life. London: J. Johnson, 1794-96.

The first consistent all-embracing hypothesis of evolution. Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin, was a respected physician, philosopher, and naturalist. He rejected the theory of special creation and in Zoonomia formulated one of the first formal theories of evolution; in his posthumously published poem, The Temple of Nature (1802), he presented his evolutionary ideas in verse. Although Darwin did not develop a theory of natural selection, his work discusses other ideas that his grandson refined many decades later, such as how one species can evolve into another and how life evolves from a single common ancestor, forming "one living filament.” Darwin was a lifelong friend of James Watt, Josiah Wedgwood and other members of the Lunar Society in Birmingham.

Two volumes, quarto (270 x 210mm). 10 engraved plates, including 6 hand-colored in vol. 1; directions to the binder/errata leaf at end of vol. 1 (occasional spotting and offsetting of plates to preceding leaves). Contemporary tree calf (rebacked preserving titling pieces, corners renewed; edges and corners worn; Zambrano library label on back pastedowns). Provenance: 19th-century marginal annotations in pencil – Edward Strutt, first Baron Belper (1801-1880, politician; bookplate).