Publishing and the classics: Paley’s Natural theology and the nineteenth-century scientific canon

doi:10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00032-8

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A

Volume 33, Issue 4, December 2002, Pages 729-751

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0039-3681(02)00032-8 Get rights and content

Abstract

This article seeks a new way to conceptualise the ‘classic’ work in the history of science, and suggests that the use of publishing history might help avoid the antagonism which surrounded the literary canon wars. It concentrates on the widely acknowledged concept that the key to the classic work is the fact of its being read over a prolonged period of time. Continued reading implies that a work is able to remain relevant to later generations of readers, and, although some of this depends upon the openness of the original text, much more depends on the actions of subsequent publishers and editors in repackaging the work for later audiences.

This is illustrated through an examination of the long publishing history of William Paley’s Natural theology (1802). Over the course of the century, Natural theology was read as a work of gentlemanly natural theology, as a work which could be used in a formal or informal education in science, and as a work of Christian apologetic. These transformations occurred because of the actions of the later publishers and editors who had to make the work suit the current interests of the literary marketplace. Comparisons are made to Constitution of man, Vestiges of the natural history of creation and Origin of species.

Section snippets

Theories of the classic

At its simplest, the classic is a work ‘which continues to be read several generations after it was written’.⁶ Older theories of the classic, including that formulated by T. S. Eliot, took a very limited

Gentlemanly natural theology

Natural theology, or, evidences of the existence and attributes of the deity collected from the appearances of nature was published by Robert Faulder of New Bond Street, London in 1802.²⁷ Faulder published a mixture of religious and political works, and some travel

The classic reprint

In the early 1810s, the share-holders had been willing to buy into Natural theology because it was still selling well, and looked likely to continue to do so. Once it came out of copyright, other publishers noted this success in the gentlemanly market, and decided that there was every chance it would be repeated in the middle-class market. These publishers were often based in Glasgow or Edinburgh, or were smaller publishers in London who had not been involved with the copyright editions.

Popular science or Christian apologetic?

Once print was made available at prices the middle classes could afford, the working classes were the next obvious target for publishers. This began to happen from the late 1830s, and especially from the 1840s, and was largely dependent on changes in the use of printing technologies. In the mid-1830s, W. & R. Chambers of Edinburgh used their steam printing machines to print People’s Editions. Constitution of man was one of the first, in 1835. It cost only 1s.6d., and sold an incredible 40,000

Conclusions

Natural theology was already being regarded as a classic, at least by some publishers, in the 1820s. From the 1840s onwards, the use which was made of Natural theology was predicated on its status as a work combining science and religion which had stood the test of time, and which therefore had authority. In turn, the continued reprintings and readings of the work helped to consolidate this authoritative and, indeed, classic status. However, in the 1830s and 1840s, the theological credentials

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Jon Topham for stimulating my interest in this topic originally, and the anonymous referee for making me clarify my thoughts in the introduction

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Publishing and the classics: Paley’s Natural theology and the nineteenth-century scientific canon

Abstract

Section snippets

Theories of the classic

Gentlemanly natural theology

The classic reprint

Popular science or Christian apologetic?

Conclusions

Acknowledgements

Poetics

Studies in History and Philosophy of Science

A new model for the study of the book

English publishing and the mass audience in 1852

Studies in Bibliography

The English common reader: A social history of the mass reading public, 1800–1900

From Aldine to Everyman: Cheap reprint series of the English classics, 1830–1906

Studies in Bibliography

Nineteenth-century bestsellers: A further list

Studies in Bibliography

Nineteenth-century bestsellers: A third list

Studies in Bibliography

Darwin’s plots: The evolutionary narrative in Darwin, George Eliot and nineteenth-century fiction

The western canon: The books and school of the ages

A discourse of natural theology, showing the nature of the evidence and the advantage of the study

London publishers and printers c.1800-1870

Why read the classics?

The politics of evolution: Medicine, morphology, and reform in radical London

Heralds of science, as represented by two hundred epochal books and pamphlets selected from the Burndy Library

A history of British publishing

The reception of William Paley’s Natural theology in the University of Cambridge

British Journal for the History of Science

Copyrights and competition: Producing and protecting children’s books in the nineteenth century

Publishing History

A new introduction to bibliography

Immanence and transcendence: Theories of life and organisation in Britain, 1790–1835

Isis

The classic