1880-1907 The Works of Herbert Spencer

Description

First Edition, Leather Binding, Signed Binding

An impressive collection of works containing important studies of psychology, sociology, biology and more, from prolific English polymath, Herbert Spencer. Complete in 

Uniformly bound in half calf with cloth boards and gilt to the spines. 

Spencer's Synthetic Philosophy series was taken on by the polymath with the intention of demonstrating that the principle of evolution applied to biology, psychology, sociology and morality. This was his major theory. 

An Autobiography Vol I and Vol II are first editions. Later edition remarks are noted below.


The full set contains:

The Study of Sociology (1880) Library edition (Being the Ninth), with a Postscript.


First Principles (1887) Fifth edition

Spencer argues here that all structures in the universe develop from a simple, undifferentiated, homogeneity, and explores the evolutionary process. 

The Principles of Psychology Vol I (1881) Third edition
The Principles of Psychology Vol II (1881) Third edition

Explores a physiological basis for psychology, founded on the assumption that the human mind was subject to natural laws and that these could be discovered within the framework of general biology. 


The Principles of Biology Vol I (1884) “Stereotyped Fourth Thousand” edition
The Principles of Biology Vol II (1880) “Stereotyped Third Thousand” edition

This is where Spencer originated the expression "survival of the fittest", which he coined after reading Charles Darwin's work 'On the Origin of Species' (1859).


The Principles of Sociology Vol I (1885) Third edition, revised and enlarged
The Principles of Sociology Vol II (1882) No edition remarks
The Principles of Sociology Vol III (1897) “Second thousand” edition

Spencer attempted to introduce Lamarckism and Darwinism to the field of sociology, however it was unsuccessful and actually considered by many to be actively dangerous.

Social Statics, Abridged and Revised; Together with The Man Versus the State (1902) “Fifth thousand and Sixteenth thousand” editions

Includes Spencer’s first book, originally published in 1851, which applied his ideas of Lamarckian evolution to society. Together with his work of political theory. 

The Principles of Ethics Vol I (1904) “Third thousand” edition
The Principles of Ethics Vol II (1904) “Second Thousand” edition

Spencer's writings on ethics held that it was possible to discover 'laws' of morality that had the status of laws of nature whilst still having normative content. 

An Autobiography Vol I (1904) First Edition – With a monochrome portrait frontispiece
An Autobiography Vol II (1904) First Edition

Education: Intellectual, Moral, and Physical (1905) Undated, dated from a copy held institutionally.

Various Fragments (1907) Enlarged edition

A collection of varying essays. 


From the library of W. A. Foyle, with his bookplate to the front pastedowns of each volume. 

William Alfred Westropp Foyle (1885-1963) was a British bookseller and businessman who co-founded Foyles bookshop in 1903 with his brother Gilbert Foyle.

Foyle was one of the leading London booksellers of the 20th century, with the name itself becoming synonymous with bookselling. During the Second World War, Foyle bought Beeleigh Abbey, a 12th century monastery on the River Chelmer at Maldon, Essex. It was there that Foyle formed one of the largest English private libraries of the 20th century.