LEWES, George Henry. Comte's philosophy of the sciences: being an exposition of the Cours de philosophie positive of Auguste Comte. [Bohn's Scientific Library].

Small 8vo, pp. [7, advertisements], viii, 351, [1 blank], 32 (advertisements), [7, advertisements]; pastedowns, endpapers and flyleaves printed in blue with ads; publisher's ads unopened; a very good copy in original red embossed cloth, corners and edges bumped, with one small tear; spine gilt and embossed, head and foot of spine chipped; bookplate to front pastedown.First edition. Lewes brings Comte's philosophy to a new audience in England, where Comte's reputation is on the rise, and updates the scientific context to include all the 'very latest facts and ideas'. Lewes had no formal scientific training but from around 1853 onwards he took an active interest in the natural sciences, psychology and, eventually, Darwin's theory of evolution (the word appears frequently here in Lewes's treatment of Comte). Positivism no doubt appealed to Lewes as a prospective amateur of science. He describes it is the abstraction of real, i.e. physical knowledge, into metaphysical 'phenomena'. The mysteries of hard science could now be approached through moral philosophy, and vice versa: '[Science] gives Philosophy materials and a Method; that is all'. The mingling of science with morality, philosophy and even literature was a significant feature of the period; around this time Lewes had a falling out with Dickens because he criticized the bad science of the author's Bleak House, in which Mr Krook famously, spontaneously combusts.…