Pithecanthropus erectus; Eine menschenaehnliche Uebergangsform aus Java. Von Eug. Dubois, Militairarzt der niederlaendisch-indischen Armee.

4to, pp. [4], 39, [1], with three photographic illustrations in the text, and two photographic plates (faced by a half-page descriptive note each); lightly browned; front free end-paper reinforced in the gutter; a good copy in the original publisher’s cloth-backed boards; spine renewed and the boards a bit rubbed and lightly soiled; offered with a group of 26 offprints by Dubois, largely on the same subject. FIRST EDITION, THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE DISCOVERY OF HOMO ERECTUS, PRINTED IN A SMALL PRINT RUN IN BATAVIA, NOW JAKARTA, AND HERE ACCOMPANIED BY A MOST COHERENT GROUP OF 26 VERY RARE PUBLICATIONS BY DUBOIS ON COMPARATIVE ANATOMY. Although hominid fossils had been found and studied before, Dubois was the first anthropologist to embark upon a purposeful search for them. Dubois was born and raised in the village of Eijsden, Limburg, where his father, Jean Dubois, was an apothecary, later the mayor. Interested in all phenomena of the world of nature, Eugène explored the ‘caves’ (‘Grotten’, actually underground limestone mines) of Mount St Peter and amassed collections of plant parts, stones, insects, shells, and animal skulls. From age 12-13 on, he attended school in the Limburg city of Roermond, boarding with a family there and then he dropped out. In Roermond he attended lectures on Darwin’s new theory of evolution given by the German biologist, Karl Vogt. Resisting his apothecary father’s plan to follow in his footsteps, Dubois, encouraged by his teachers, in 1877 decided to study medicine at the University of Amsterdam. While a student he taught anatomy at both of the brand new (founded 1880) art schools housed at the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam the Rijksschool voor Kunstnijverheid (State School for Applied Arts) and the Rijksnormaalschool voor Teekenonderwijzers (State Normal School for Drawing Instructors). In 1884 he obtained his medical degree. He declined an offer from the University of Utrech of a position as a teacher. Instead, at the invitation of his anatomy instructor, Max Fürbinger, creator of several ‘genealogical systems’ or evolutionary trees, he decided to train as an academic. From 1881 to 1887 he studied comparative anatomy and became Fürbinger’s assistant. His chief interest was in human evolution, influenced by Ernst Haeckel, who reasoned that there must be intermediate species between ape and human. Following the discovery of a prehistoric flint mine near the village of Rijckholt, Dubois himself finds human skulls there. ‘Appointed lecturer in anatomy at the University of Amsterdam (1886), Dubois investigated the comparative anatomy of the larynx in vertebrates but became increasingly interested in human evolution. In 1887 he went to the East Indies as a military surgeon and, on the island of Sumatra, began to excavate caves in search of remains of early hominins (members of the human lineage). ‘Continuing his quest on the island of Java, Dubois found at Trinil a jaw fragment (1890) and later a skullcap and thighbone. The skull gave evidence of a small brain, massive browridges, a flat, retreating forehead, and other apelike features. Dubois named the fossils Pithecanthropus erectus, or "upright ape-man," to indicate an intermediate phase in the evolution then believed to proceed from simian ancestors having the upright posture characteristic of modern man. After publishing his findings (1894) he returned to Europe (1895) and became a professor of geology at the University of Amsterdam. Because of controversy surrounding his discovery, he withdrew his materials from all examination until 1923’ (Encyclopaedia Britannica, online).The 26 offprints, dating from 1886 to 1939, included here (3 in German, 4 in Dutch, and 19 in English, the majority from the Proceedings of the Meetings of the Koninklijke Akademie van Wetenschappen te Amsterdam) are significant both textually and in demonstrating Dubois’ on-going struggle in gaining recognition for his ground-braking discovery. …