Illustrations of Universal Progress : A Series of Discussions... with a Notice of Spencer's "New System of Philosophy."

New York:: D. Appleton and Company, 1864. A handsome copy, remarkably well preserved. Bright, clean, square, and tight. Condition would be FINE but for uniform sun-fading to the spine. The spine's gilt lettering has lost its much of its shine but remains legible. Original bright yellow endpapers. Inner hinges are perfect. Bound in the original purplish-brown cloth, decorated on the front and rear covers with blind-stamped ornaments and borders. Both the front and rear covers still have much of their new book luster. The title page has a previous owner's name and the year, 1865, in light pencil (D. Knowles, Lodi, NJ -- easily erased). Pages are clean and crisp -- probably never read. Contains 13 chapters, as follows: 1) Progress: Its Law and Cause; 2) Manners and Fashion; 3) The Genesis of Science; 4) The Physiology of Laughter; 5) The Origin and Function of Music; 6) The Nebular Hypothesis; 7) Bain on the Emotions and the Will; 8) Illogical Geology; 9) The Development Hypothesis; 10) The Social Organism; 11) Use and Beauty; 12) The Sources of Architectural Types; 13) The Use of Anthropomorphism. From the Editor's Preface: "Nearly all of Mr. Spencer's essays have relations more or less direct to the general doctrine of Evolution -- a doctrine which he has probably done more to unfold and illustrate than any other thinker. The papers in the present volume are those which deal with the subject in its most obvious and prominent aspects." These pieces were first published in British periodicals, and then as part of ESSAYS; SCIENTIFIC, POLITICAL, AND SPECULATIVE (first and second series, 1857 and 1863 respectively). "Spencer is important less for specific discoveries or for his contributions to particular sciences (except sociology and psychology) than for his synthesis of so much of the accepted science of his day in the integrating framework of evolution... Spencer's unified vision of science, expressed in methodological writings as well as in the synthesis itself, contributed greatly to the acceptance of science as a major component in the intellectual culture of industrial society." -- DSB, vol. XII, p. 570.. First U. S. Edition.. Hard Cover. Near Fine condition.. 8vo. xxv, 446pp. + 24 pages of ads..