Vestiges of the natural history of creation. And: Explanations: A sequel to “Vestiges….” 2 vols.

This outspoken statement of a belief in evolution, published anonymously to protect Chambers’s reputation as a publisher, anticipated Darwin’s Origin by 16 years and generally prepared the public for Darwin’s theories. For a scientific book in the Victorian era, it became a sensational best seller. Authorship was not revealed until the 12th edition (1884) 13 years after Chambers’s death. Facsimile reprint, Leicester, Univ. Press, 1969. See M. Millhauser, Just before Darwin: Robert Chambers and ‘Vestiges’, Middletown, Wesleyan University Press, [1959].