HUXLEY, Thomas Henry. Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature. London: Williams & Norgate. 1863.
8vo. Original full green cloth, tooled in blind, lettered in gilt to spine, publisher's advertisements as endpapers; pp. [v] + 159 + [8, advertisements dated February 1863], frontispiece, text illustration; head and foot of spine slightly bumped, previous owner's signature dated March 1863 to half-title, otherwise near fine.
First edition, first printing. T.H. Huxley was perhaps Darwin's fiercest advocate in the debates ensuing after the publication of On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection in 1859. The essays in the present work were originally delivered as lectures, but on publication precipitated a considerable raising of the author's profile. Huxley cited anatomical and physiological observations to support his claims that regarding "mode of origin…..[man] is far nearer the Apes than the Apes are to the Dog." (p. 65). This assertion and others incited controversy, but Huxley relished his role as one of the great exponents of popular science teaching and in particular his reputation as "Darwin's Bulldog".
DNB p.898
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