Researches into the Physical History of Mankind . Vol. V. Containing Researches in the History of the Oceanic and of the American Nations

London, Houlston and Sons, [circa 1880s]/ 1847 (expanded edition)/ 1813. Large octavo, xvi, 570, [2] (publisher's advertisements) pages. Dark green cloth stamped in gilt and blind; edges uncut; covers a little flecked and slightly worn at the corners; scattered light foxing; occasional pencil emphases; a few later leaves untidily opened; mild signs of age and use; a very good copy. The first half of the volume comprises a linguistic, anthropological and historical study of the peoples of the greater Indo-Pacific region, including Australian Aboriginal, Polynesian, Micronesian and Austronesian peoples. The second portion gives a similar treatment to the native peoples of North and South America. The final chapters present Prichard's influential monogenist conclusion, in which he argues that humans belong to a single species. James Cowles Prichard (1786-1848), 'a Bristol physician, classified and systematized facts relating to the races of men better than any previous writer. His interest in anthropology was stimulated by one of the pressing questions of his day: Did all the races of mankind have a common origin, as stated in the Scriptures, or did they spring from different ancestral stocks? Prichard, a confirmed monogenist, sought to demonstrate the common origin of the human races by compiling evidence from a variety of fields, including anatomy, physiology, comparative psychology, linguistics and cross-cultural studies. He theorized that the earliest races of mankind had been dark-skinned, and that the black races, far from representing a degeneration from white "perfection," were the origin from which the white races had sprung' (Garrison-Morton 159). Provenance: Central Board of Health, Adelaide, with its contemporary bookplate on the front pastedown.…