Smith, Samuel Stanhope:

AN ESSAY ON THE CAUSES AND VARIETY OF COMPLEXION AND FIGURE IN THE HUMAN SPECIES. TO WHICH ARE ADDED STRICTURES ON LORD KAIMS'S DISCOURSE, ON THE ORIGINAL DIVERSITY OF MANKIND.

Philadelphia: Robert Aitken, 1787. [4], 111, [1 blank], 31, [1 blank] pp, as issued. Disbound, else Very Good with scattered mild foxing.

In this influential book Smith, President and Professor of Moral Philosophy at the College of New Jersey, "flatly contradicted the theory of the separate creation of the different races. Independently of revelation, he arrived at a belief in the genetic unity of mankind, ascribing the existence of racial types to the influences of climate and 'the state of society'. He gave much thought to the problem of slavery and devised a plan whereby, he believed, freedmen might become economically independent" [DAB]. Moreover, "far in advance of his time" [id.], he explains that, "The minutest causes, acting constantly, and long continued, will necessarily create great and conspicuous differences among mankind."
FIRST EDITION. Felcone Collection 244. Evans 20712. Austin 1776. LCP 9545 [incorrect collation]. Not in Work, Blockson, Dumond. Item #38662

Price: $1,000.00