Paleontological evidence of human evolution. First edition of this important contribution to the debate over Darwinian evolution, offering evidence from paleontological discoveries for the theory's relevance to humans. This copy from the library of evolutionary biologist Stephen J. Gould, with his bookplate.

Lyell's Principles of Geology, published in 1830, asserted that the earth was shaped by predictable, mechanistic forces acting over long periods of time, and inspired Charles Darwin to think of the evolution of species in similar terms. But even though 'the strong uniformitarian convictions that inspired the Principles of Geology had accustomed Lyell to the concept of the antiquity of species, a combination of personal prejudice and religious belief made it impossible for him, at the time he published the Principles, to extend this concept of antiquity to humankind. It was not until 1859, after Joseph Prestwich's discovery of a flint artefact embedded in ancient river gravel near Abbeville, France, that Lyell began pursuing the question of human antiquity, a question that he recognized as being related to that of the origin of species. Drawing on such facts as Prestwich's discovery, the flints found by Boucher de Perthes, the Swiss lake dwellings, the shell mounds of Denmark and the recent find of a human skull in Neanderthal, Germany, Lyell marshalled a broad array of evidence indicating that man had evolved gradually from lower animals over an immense period of time, and gave a brief abstract of Darwin and Wallace's theory of the indefinite modification of species by natural selection. He thus placed himself on Darwin's side in the controversy over the Origin of Species, although he did not explicitly declare his own acceptance of Darwin's theory until a year after the present work was published. The Antiquity of Man is unusual among works of science in that it passed through multiple revised editions within the space of a year - evidence both of the work's popularity (a month after its publication on 6 February 1863, William Whewell wrote Lyell that 'I am reading your book on the antiquity of man as all the world has done or is doing'), and of Lyell's reactions to reviews and unpublished criticism. In May 1863, a month after the second edition had appeared, Lyell noted that nearly 5000 copies had been sold, and the demand was so great that a third edition was published in Nov 1863' (Hook and Norman, Norman Library of Science and Medicine 1400).

Former owner Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002) was one of the leading evolutionary biologists of the 20th century. His theory of punctuated equilibria challenged the idea that evolution is a slow and constant accumulation of changes, positing that it often occurs in rapid bursts followed by periods of stasis. He was a prominent defender of teaching of evolution in schools and a leading critic of sociobiology, which he saw as providing a pseudoscientific basis for discrimination. But he was best known as a popular science writer, penning three hundred essays that were originally published in Natural History Magazine.

First edition; 8vo; wood-engraved frontispiece and 1 plate, wood engravings within the text, 32-page publisher's ads at rear, occasional small spots and marks but overall contents clean; original green bead grain cloth, titles to spine and fossil design to upper board gilt, decorative panels to boards blocked in blind, brown coated endpapers, 2 bookplates, pencilled ownership signature on the half title, joints cracked, corners bumped, cloth rubbed at the extremities, very good condition; 520pp.

Freeman, British Natural History Books 2369; Hook and Norman, Norman Library of Science and Medicine 1400.