Images of race / edited with an introduction by Michael D. Biddiss.

Date:
1979
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: Images of race / edited with an introduction by Michael D. Biddiss. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/268 (page 9)
    PREFACE There are a number of ways in which a selection from Victorian writing on race might be made. The approach adopted here has been influenced by the desire of the Advisory Committee of 'The Victorian Library' to encourage reprints from periodicals of the period and to ensure that each resulting volume should be composed of sub¬ stantial items rather than shorter snippets. On this basis I have selected 11 essays, most of which are presented whole. The limited excisions made elsewhere, principally to remove matter of partic¬ ularly ephemeral interest, have been appropriately indicated in the text. I have endeavoured to keep a balance between items drawn from the more specifically anthropological and ethnological journals and ones taken from the rich hoard of general periodicals so avidly read by contemporaries. In both cases we are dealing largely with opinions expressed by and for an educated middle class, and any claim to wider representativeness would have to be carefully qual¬ ified. The chronological range of the selections has been restricted to the two middle decades of the Victorian age. In matters of race this period, running from the first repercussions of the Darwinian revolution to the eve of the 'scramble for Africa', has a marked unity. I have concentrated on these years with a view to enhancing the coherence of this collection. The chosen pieces reach very diverse conclusions; what draws them closer together is some measure of consensus about the issues which debaters of race needed to confront at that epoch. While preparing this book I have been fortunate to enjoy valuable advice and encouragement from a number of friends and colleagues. It is a pleasure to mention particularly the kindness of Michael Banton, Peter Boulton, Lorna Duffìn, Greta Jones, and Douglas Lorimer. To my wife, and to Paula Wheatley, go thanks for help in 9