Beschreibung:

Eugenics. First International Eugenics Congress, London, July 1912, a presentation album ‘to Mrs. Gotto by the Members of the International Congress as a Token of their Admiration and Respect’ with printed presentation title-page and a page listing 21 members of the International Committee, followed by 18 signed photographic portraits of the committee members, each mounted singly to rectos of thick paper leaves with 8 blank leaves at rear, top edge gilt, contemporary dark brown morocco gilt with silk doublures and inner dentelles gilt, the covers with gilt laurel leaves border decoration within triple gilt fillet, intwined monogram ‘SG’ inlaid in red morocco to centre of upper cover, spine with five raised bands and gilt laurel leaves with two title compartments lettered in blind, skilful restoration at head of spine, 4to (260 x 210 mm) (Quantity: 1) The dedicatee of this presentation album was Sybil Gotto (1885-1955), the driving force behind this first International Eugenics Congress in 1912. Born Sybil Katherine Burney, her first husband was Lieutenant Arthur Corry Gotto, whom she married in 1905, though the marriage lasted less than a year due to his untimely death. Her second marriage was to Commander Clive Neville-Rolfe in 1917, whereupon she assumed his family name until her death. Gotto was a social hygienist and founder of the Eugenics Society, and a leading figure in the National Council for Combating Venereal Diseases. With Francis Galton (who coined the term eugenics in 1883), they founded the Eugenics Education Society (now known as the Galton Institute) in London in 1907, with Galton serving as its first honorary president. Gotto took the role of honorary secretary upon the Society's founding until 1920. The Eugenics Education Society believed that social class and poverty were directly linked to one's genetics and their ideals were closely linked to the Committee of the Moral Education League (1898). She also founded the Imperial Society for Promoting Sex Education and was the Deputy Chair of the Child Welfare Council. Therefore, the Society aimed to reduce poverty in England through reducing the birth rate of the lowest classes and those of low intelligence. In 1912, she was the primary force behind the Society's organisation of the first International Eugenics Congress in South Kensington. After 1920 she acted as the Society Council's vice-president and later was elected to serve on the consultative council, a position that she held until her death in 1955. The First International Eugenics Congress took place in London on 24–29 July 1912. It was organised by the British Eugenics Education Society and dedicated to Francis Galton who had died the year prior. Major Leonard Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin, presided. The five-day meeting saw about 400 delegates at the Hotel Cecil in London. Luminaries included Winston Churchill First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Alverstone, Lord Chief Justice, William Osler and Arthur Graham Bell who, along with many others, were titled as vice-president to the Congress. In his opening address Leonard Darwin indicated that the introduction of principles of better breeding procedures for humans would require moral courage and, in the final address, he extolled eugenics as the practical application of the principle of evolution. List of photographs in the album: 1) Leonard Darwin (1850-1943), English politician, economist and eugenicist. He was a son of the naturalist Charles Darwin. Photograph by Elliott & Fry, signed and dated to lower margin, ‘Leonard Darwin, Aug. 1912’. 2) Carl von Bardeleben. His Excellency the General von Bardeleben, President of the Verein Herold, Berlin. Photograph by the Dover Street Studios, signed to lower margin, ‘C. von Bardeleben, General Lieutnant, Dr’. 3) Yves Delage (1854-1920), French zoologist known for his work into invertebrate physiology and anatomy. He is also famous for his work on the Turin Shroud, arguing in favour of its authenticity. De