This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 7/25/2024
[SCIENTIFIC RACISM]. MORTON, Samuel George (1799-1851). Crania Americana; or, a Comparative View of the Skulls of Various Aboriginal Nations of North and South America: to Which is Prefixed an Essay on the Varieties of the Human Species. Philadelphia: J. Dobson, 1839. Folio. Illustrated with frontispiece, hand-colored map, and 76 lithographic plates of skulls or remains, including one Phrenological Chart (the title-page calls for 78 plates, but the list at the rear only calls for 72 plates). Several intertextual illustrations. Tipped-in at the rear is the lithographer’s “Circular” notice. [iv], [i]-v, [1, blank], [1]-296, [1,errata] pp. Approximately 15 ¼ x 10 ½”. Publisher’s full brown cloth, boards embossed in a floral design (spine missing, boards detached, text and plates mainly loose or disbound, ownership signature on title-page, some general wear, soiling, occasional tears to text and plates). A fair copy of this beautifully illustrated, though controversial book. Morton traveled extensively in the Americas, collecting and comparing the skull sizes of the various peoples in order to prove that some races have greater brain capacity than others; his work was lauded in certain circles, believing that it justified slavery and oppression based on race. “This valuable work gives accurate delineations of more than forty Indian nations, Peruvian, Brazilian, and Mexican, with a particularly extended series from North America, from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic, and from Florida to the regions of the Polar tribes” (Sabin). Sabin 51022.