Emigration Fields by Matthew Patrick, First Edition (2 results)

First edition. Small 8vo. Original cloth. Good copy. Folding frontispiece map of North America (one fold repaired with acid-free mending tape) and second map of Australia, New Zealand and environs present and in good condition. Book leaning, spine worn. Armorial bookplate on front pastedown, former owner's inscription on front free endpaper obliterated. When Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection (1859) first appeared, previous expressions of his central idea were pointed out to him. Of these, Darwin acknowledged Matthew as having anticipated his theory fully in a work on naval timber. (1831). Matthew was, like Darwin, influenced by Malthus, and in this later volume proposed that the effects of Malthus' iron law could be mitigated by exporting population to regions hospitable to European colonization. After Darwin acknowledged that Matthew had essentially expressed the idea of natural selection, albeit in a much less data-driven way than Darwin, Matthew had calling cards printed with the legend "Discoverer of the principle of natural selection.".

Inscribed to Social Reformer Thomas Atwood Matthew, Patrick (1790-1874). Emigration fields. 12mo. xi, [1], 237, [1]pp., adverts. 2 large folding maps engraved by Sidney Hall. Edinburgh: Black. . . , 1839. 198 x 120 mm. Original cloth, gilt, rebacked preserving original backstrip, worn & spotted. Light browning but still very good. First Edition, Inscribed by Matthew to Thomas Attwood (1783-1856) on endpaper."To Thomas Atwood M.P. Esq from P. Matthew" This plan for British emigration to North America, Africa, Australia and New Zealand was informed by Matthew's ideas on natural selection, which he first expressed in 1831, fully anticipating Darwin. Matthew speculates on the influence of environmental conditions, for example in southern Africa, where he predicts that the native population, perfectly adapted to the climate, and now governed by a more humane colonial policy, will grow at a faster rate than the colonial population. Matthew presented this copy to the social reformer and M. P. Thomas Attwood, who presented the Chartists' petition for universal suffrage and other democratic rights to the House of Commons in June of 1839 (see DNB).This is the only book inscribed by Patrick Matthew that we have seen on the market in more than 40 years.During the same period we have never seen an autograph letter by Matthew for sale. Thus is an extremely opportunity to obrtain Patrick Matthew's autograph, etc. .