Sketches of the History of Man. Vol. I-II

Description:

First edition. Henry Home, Lord Kames (1696-1782), one of the leaders of the Scottish Enlightenment, was a judge in the supreme courts of Scotland and wrote extensively on morals, religion, education, aesthetics, history, political economy, and law, including natural law. Home was a polygenist, he believed God had created different races on earth in separate regions. In this book, Home claimed that the environment, climate, or state of society could not account for racial differences, so that the races must have come from distinct, separate stocks. Kames' proteges included James Boswell, David Hume and Adam Smith. He was also influentual on the thinking of the founders of the United States, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Wilson.

Condition

2 vols, 4to, cont. leather, rubbed/scuffed, corners repaired, red and green leather-title pieces to spines, marbled endpapapers. Institutional library book-plate to pastedowns, small ink stamp to title pages, blind stamps to title-pages and corners of final leaves; minor scattered foxing. A good set.