GALTON, FRANCIS. 1822-1911.


Inquiries into Human Faculty and its Development. London: MacMillan & Co., 1883. 8vo (225 x 140 mm). Mounted albumen photographic frontispiece. Publisher's red cloth. Chipping to head of spine, frontispiece starting, library markings.Provenance: H.J. Willing (typed name to front pastedown), Francis S. Willing (ink inscription to title), Mark Skinner Library (blind-stamp).WITH: "An Inquiry into The Physiognomy of Phthisis by the Method of 'Composite Portraiture.'" pp 475-495.[Offprint from]: Guy's Hospital Reports, 3rd series, vol 49. London: J. & A. Churchill, 1881.8vo (218 x 137 mm). 4 albumen photographic prints. Original cloth-backed wrappers, unopened. Minor chipping to spine ends, library labels and stampsProvenance: Texas Medical Association Library (stamp).EARLY EXAMPLES OF COMPOSITE PORTRAITURE. These two works are important examples of Galton's early forays into composite portraiture, a practice in which he combined multiple images of different subjects into a single blended image. He hoped through such blending to reveal different 'types,' particularly the criminal and the sick. This technique developed parallel to Galton's foundational writing in the field of eugenics, as, "Galton introduced the word 'eugenics' in this volume on p. 24 and defined it as 'the science of improving stock,' encompassing not only judicious selective breeding but all the various factors that give superior traits an improved chance of prevailing over inferior ones. A large part of the work is devoted to Galton's investigations in experimental psychology, including sense perception and mental imagery" (Norman 866). Garrison-Morton 230.