Just Before Darwin: Robert Chambers and Vestiges

"Every great intellectual concept has both its prophets and its forerunners; and in the field of evolutionary thought, Robert Chambers of Victorian Edinburgh was such a forerunner. He was only an amateur scientist, yet his anonymous book on the "developmental hypothesis," Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation (1844), was more influential in breaking down popular (and even scientific) resistance to that "anti-religious" theory than any other predecessor of The Origin of Species. In fact, Vestiges was one of the most controversial books of its time, roundly attacked by many, warmly upheld by some, and read to the extent of eleven British editions plus an unknown number of pirated American printings. This book is the story of both Vestiges and its author, the hard-working son of a poor Scots weaver who became a popular essayist, a successful publisher, a spare-time geologist of some worth, an outstanding citizen, and eventually a dabbler in spiritualism--and whose writing of the notorious Vestiges remained a secret until years after his death..." -- Book jacket.