De la génération
Paris, Madame Huzard, 1828. 8°, (4), VIII, 340 pages ; modern marbled cartonnage, original printed wrappers preserved, copy untrimmed. Foxing throughout. Item #3737
Original edition of this work in which the word « evolution » is used in its modern meaning for the first time.
At the beginning of the 19th century, with the slow discarding of preformationism and the birth of transformism, the word “evolution” changed meaning and came to designate the progressive transmutation of species. It is traditional to attribute to Spencer the first use of the word in its modern sense but in fact the agronomist and physiologist Louis-François-Charles Girou de Buzareingues (1773-1856) had already use it as early as 1828 in his book, De la generation.
Price: €250.00