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Victorian Sensation - The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (Paperback)
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Victorian Sensation - The Extraordinary Publication, Reception, and Secret Authorship of Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (Paperback)
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Fiction or philosophy, profound knowledge or shocking heresy? When
V"estiges of the Natural History of Creation" was published
anonymously in 1844, it sparked one of the greatest sensations of
the Victorian era. More than a hundred thousand readers were
spellbound by its startling vision--an account of the world that
extended from the formation of the solar system to the spiritual
destiny of humanity. As gripping as a popular novel, "Vestiges"
combined all the current scientific theories in fields ranging from
astronomy and geology to psychology and economics. The book was
banned, it was damned, it was hailed as the gospel for a new age.
This is where our own public controversies about evolution began.
In a pioneering cultural history, James A. Secord uses the story of
"Vestiges" to create a panoramic portrait of life in the early
industrial era from the perspective of its readers. We join
apprentices in a factory town as they debate the consequences of an
evolutionary ancestry. We listen as Prince Albert reads aloud to
Queen Victoria from a book that preachers denounced as blasphemy
vomited from the mouth of Satan. And we watch as Charles Darwin
turns its pages in the flea-ridden British Museum library, fearful
for the fate of his own unpublished theory of evolution. Using
secret letters, Secord reveals how "Vestiges" was written and how
the anonymity of its author was maintained for forty years. He also
takes us behind the scenes to a bustling world of publishers,
printers, and booksellers to show how the furor over the book
reflected the emerging industrial economy of print.
Beautifully written and based on painstaking research, "Victorian
Sensation" offers a new approach to literary history, the history
of reading, and the history of science. Profusely illustrated and
full of fascinating stories, it is the most comprehensive account
of the making and reception of a book (other than the Bible) ever
attempted.
Winner of the 2002 Pfizer Award from the History of Science
Society
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