Constitution of Man Considered in Relation to External Objects - AND Nineteenth-century Responses

The phrenologist George Combe's "Constitution of Man" (1827) offers an anti-evangelical philosophy of progressive natural laws capable of serving as a guide to life and conduct.

It was one of the most controversial and influential works of the 19th century, selling an astonishing 350,000 copies and remaining in print from 1828 until 1899. (In comparison, Darwin's "Origin of Species" sold only 50,000 copies.) Countless books, pamphlets and articles were written to oppose, condemn, praise and especially to imitate it.

Volume One of this set contains a newly typeset text of the 8th edition of the "Constitution" from 1847, with its original illustrations.

As the last edition published in Combe's lifetime, this is the version of most interest to scholars, including as it does an additional chapter on science and religion.

Volumes Two and Three are made up of early British and American responses to Combe's classic work, chronologically ordered from 1827 to 1879.

This material - much of it very rare - has never been collected before. Its reprinting here, alongside the best text of the "Constitution" itself and prefixed by John van Wyhe's new introduction, should be of interest to students and scholars of 19th-century debates between science and religion.

It should also be welcomed by specialists in the history of psychology, phrenology, heredity and educational reform.