EUGENICS

[Julian Huxley, biologist, first director of UNESCO, as Secretary of Zoological Society of London.] Typed Note with cyclostyled signature, informing Dr Maurice Ernest that he does not consider the 'main thesis' of his book 'biologically justified'.

Author: 
Julian Huxley [Sir Julian Sorell Huxley] (1887-1975), evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, first director of UNESCO, brother of Aldous Huxley, grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley [Dr Maurice Ernest]
Publication details: 
15 March 1941. On letterhead of the Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, N.W.8.
£50.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Cyclostyled signature: 'Julian S. Huxley'. Addressed to 'Dr. Maurice Ernest, | New Court, | Esher, | Surrey.' He apologises for having been unable to read his book, adding: 'I am afraid I cannot feel that your main thesis is biologically justified'. It is obvious why Huxley did not look beyond the title, as the book he is clearly referring to is Ernest's 'Lives of 300 years and continual rejuvenation' (1942).

[Julian Huxley, biologist, first director of UNESCO, as Secretary of Zoological Society of London.] Typed Note with cyclostyled signature, informing Dr Maurice Ernest that he does not consider the 'main thesis' of his book 'biologically justified'.

Author: 
Julian Huxley [Sir Julian Sorell Huxley] (1887-1975), evolutionary biologist, eugenicist, first director of UNESCO, brother of Aldous Huxley, grandson of Thomas Henry Huxley [Dr Maurice Ernest]
Publication details: 
15 March 1941. On letterhead of the Zoological Society of London, Regent's Park, London, N.W.8.
£50.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded three times. Cyclostyled signature: 'Julian S. Huxley'. Addressed to 'Dr. Maurice Ernest, | New Court, | Esher, | Surrey.' He apologises for having been unable to read his book, adding: 'I am afraid I cannot feel that your main thesis is biologically justified'. It is obvious why Huxley did not look beyond the title, as the book he is clearly referring to is Ernest's 'Lives of 300 years and continual rejuvenation' (1942).

[Cosmo Hamilton and his 'Eugenic play'.] Autograph Letter Signed to J. L. Garvin, editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, regarding his play 'The Blindness of Virtue', with reference to eugenicist Caleb Saleeby.

Author: 
Cosmo Hamilton [born Henry Charles Hamilton Gibbs] (1870-1942), playwright and novelist [James Louis Garvin (1868-1947), editor of the Pall Mall Gazette; Caleb Saleeby (1878-1940); eugenics]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Whiteleaf, Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire. 'Monday' [1914]
£45.00

2pp, 12mo. In fair condition, aged and worn. Folded twice. The letter begins: 'When my Eugenic play “The Blindness of Virtue” was first produced at the Little Theatre two years ago [i.e. in 1912] (about which Dr Saleeby [i.e. eugenicist Caleb Saleeby (1878-1940)] wrote very kindly & in great agreement in the P. M. G) you were kind enough to send a member of your staff to see me for a talk.' He explains that since that time he has had the play 'in the United States & Canada where it is still running & I have many more things to say about it & those places'.

[William McDougall, Anglo-American psychologist and eugenicist.] Typed Letter Signed ('Wm McDougall') to the psychologist Millais Culpin, regarding 'that strange creature Spray' and his 'therapeutic claims'.

Author: 
William McDougall (1871-1939), Anglo-American psychologist and eugenicist, an opponent of behaviourism, some of whose views are controversial [Millais Culpin (1874-1952), psychologist]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina; 20 November 1936.
£350.00

For the recipient Millais Culpin (1874-1952), see the Oxford DNB. 1p, 4to. In fair condition, lightly aged, with thin strip from mount adhering to reverse. Folded a number of times. Addressed to 'Doctor Millais [corrected in autograph from 'Miller'] Culpin | 55, Queen Anne Street | Cavendish Square | London, W. 1'. The letter begins: 'My dear Culpin: | It was good of you to interest yourself in that strange creature Spray. Your findings about him agree very closely with my general impression, but I had hoped that you might find opportunity to put his therapeutic claims to a test.

[Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist who coined the terms 'schizophrenia', 'schizoid', 'autism' and 'ambivalence'.] Typed Letter Signed ('Bleuler'), in German, requesting information on the manifestation of 'eine psyche-artige Funktion' in plants.

Author: 
Eugen Bleuler [Paul Eugen Bleuler] (1857-1939), Swiss psychiatrist and eugenicist, who coined such psychiatric terms as 'schizophrenia', 'schizoid', 'autism' and 'ambivalence'
Publication details: 
On his letterhead, Zurich, Switzerland; 5 March 1939.
£1,000.00

1p, 4to. In good condition, lightly aged. Folded twice. Written a few months before Bleuler's death to an unnamed recipient ('Liebster Freund!'), regarding the possibility of consciousness within the plant kingdom. As a nonbotanist ('als Nichtbotaniker') Bleuler has no knowledge of 'die Falle, wo Pflanzen Gedichtnis oder sonst eine psyche-artige Funktion zeigen', with the exception of 'der Mimosen', and it strikes him ' dass ich eigentlich die Pflicht hatte, das Material so weit als moglich zu kennen, bevor ich etwas drucken lasse'.

[Karl Pearson, mathematician, biostatistician and eugenicist.] Autograph Letter Signed ('Karl Pearson.') to 'Dr. Peirce', regarding 'Mrs Baker's death', ancestry and Professor Benjamin Osgood Peirce of Harvard.

Author: 
Karl Pearson (1857-1936), mathematician, biostatistician and eugenicist, pioneer in the field of mathematical statistics [Benjamin Osgood Peirce, Harvard Professor of Mathematics]
Publication details: 
7 Well Road, Hampstead; 11 November 1902.
£350.00

3pp, 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. The letter begins with a reference to 'Mrs Baker's death'. Pearson and his wife 'had not realised the gravity of her illness', as they had recently seen her 'so well and fresh in spirit'. He wishes he had been able to accept Peirce's suggestion of 'putting me up for tonight' in order to be 'present tomorrow', but he is 'overdone and had work till 6 o'clock arranged for today, so that to come down by the night train tonight & track back tomorrow night have been more than I could safely attempt'.

[ Lord Riddell and eugenics: 'Lunacy and mental deficiency must always be festering sores'. ] Printed pamphlet: 'Sterilisation of the Unfit. Paper read by Lord Riddell before the Medico-Legal Society, April 25th, 1929.'

Author: 
Lord Riddell [ George Allardice Riddell, 1st Baron Riddell ] (1865-1934), Fleet Street press baron, proprietor of the News of the World [ eugenics ]
Publication details: 
Printed for H. K. Lewis & Co. Ltd, by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ltd., London and Aylesbury. No date [ circa 1929 ].
£120.00

31 + [1]pp., 8vo. Stapled without wraps. Drophead title. (Offprint from Transactions of the Medico-Legal Society.) In fair condition, lightly aged, central vertical fold, rusted staples. 'No reasonable person', Riddell writes, 'suggests the wholesale sterilisation of masses of lunatics and defectives. Only very moderate measures are proposed.' Riddell's suggestion is that 'in suitable cases, subject to the consent of the Board of Control, or some similar body', and with the consent of the subject, lunatics and mental defectives be sterilised.

[Masefield; Autograph Signature of Stopes in copy of ] The Collected Poems of John Masefield (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1935).

Author: 
John Masefield [ Marie Stopes ]
Publication details: 
1935; Norbury Park.
£85.00

Marie Carmichael Stopes (1880-1958), British paleobotanist and eugenicist, influential advocate of birth control. Clean neat inscription on recto of front free endpaper reads 'Marie C. Stopes | Norbury Park | 1935'. The volume is in good condition, in a grubby dustwrapper worn at the head and tail of the spine. Pages 324-5 and 339 have been marked up in soft pencil.

[ Marie Stopes ] Autograph Signature, "M.C. Stopes" on detached album leaf.

Author: 
Marie Charlotte Carmichael Stopes (1880–1958), author, palaeobotanist and campaigner for eugenics and women's rights
Publication details: 
No place or date given.
£20.00

Signature on detached leaf from album, 17.5 x 11cm, good condition.

Autograph Letter Signed ('Geo. T. Gell') to 'Dear Walter'.

Author: 
George T. Gell [I.O.G.T.; IOGT International; Independent Order of Good Templars; International Order of Good Templars; temperance movement; abstinence; prohibition; Sydney, Australia]
Publication details: 
25 February 1889; 15 Little's Lane, Nicholson Street, Balmain, E. Sydney, Australia [on I.O.G.T. letterhead].
£28.00

8vo: 4 pp. Bifolium. 66 lines. Text clear and complete, on aged, spotted and worn paper. Letterhead with printed mottos in decorative borders: 'Total Abstinence is the only certain Preventive of, or Remedy for Intemperance.' and 'INDIVIDUAL ABSTINENCE. | STATE PROHIBITION.' In conclusion Gell apologises for 'what you no doubt will stigmatize as an absurd letter', and to the modern reader this item is certainly unintentionally-amusing. Since his correspondent 'went up', 'one of my Tasmanian friends along with Mrs.

Typed Letter Signed ('Cyril Burt') to 'Mrs. Place' [i.e. Mrs G. M. Place, of the publishers Pitman].

Author: 
Sir Cyril Burt [Sir Cyril Lodowic Burt] (1883–1971), disgraced psychometric psychologist and eugenicist,
Publication details: 
12 October 1932; on letterhead of 4A, Eton Road, Hampstead, NW3.
£85.00

4to: 2 pages. 37 lines of text. Text clear and entire on slightly discoloured paper, lightly worn and creased and with a few nicks to extremities. Signed properly on the second page. Place's essay, apparently a biographical account of the psychological development of a very young child, 'whiled [sic] away a long train journey last night very pleasantly'.

Typed Letter Signed to [Mary] Scharlieb, 149 Harley Street.

Author: 
Leonard Darwin
Publication details: 
24 September 1919; on letterhead of the Professional Classes War Relief Council (Incorporated).
£120.00

Soldier, policitician, economist, eugenicist (1850-1943) and son of Charles Darwin. The recipient Dame Mary Scharlieb (1845-1931) was an early woman doctor. Two pages, quarto. Good, but on slightly discoloured and lightly creased paper, with staple stains to both top left-hand corners. An interesting letter concerning the efforts of Scharlieb's Committee to 'establish a Home where the wives of professional men could be certain to obtain excellent treatment at moderate fees'.

Autograph Signature in copy of The Collected Poems of John Masefield (London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1935).

Author: 
Marie Stopes
Publication details: 
1935; Norbury Park.
£85.00

Marie Carmichael Stopes (1880-1958), British paleobotanist and eugenicist, influential advocate of birth control. Clean neat inscription on recto of front free endpaper reads 'Marie C. Stopes | Norbury Park | 1935'. The volume is in good condition, in a grubby dustwrapper worn at the head and tail of the spine. Pages 324-5 and 339 have been marked up in soft pencil.

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