A History of the Study of Human Growth

Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1981. Cloth, 8vo, 24 cm,. xi, 499 pp, ills. From the blurb: "Profcssor Tanner's volume traces the history of studies of the physical growth of children from the time of the Ancient Greeks to the present day. The author summarises the background to and the achievement of the surveys of child growth made in the course of social reform throughout the nineteenth century, and shows their relevance for social and economic history. About a third of the accounts cover studies from 1930 onwards, especially those in the United States and Europe. These are studies to which the author himself has made outstanding contributions and which he knows intimately, both as to programmes and personalities. It is a unique historical record. The author not only follows the evolution of ideas that lies behind the gradual emergence of studies of growth, but also summarises the results of these studies, charting the growth of children throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is a comprehensive bibliography. This is an indispensable source-book for medical, social and economic historians as well as for paediatricians and biological anthropologists. Label of Lewis's Lending Library on front board and front pastedown endpaper, datestamps on verso of rear free endpaper, top edge slightly duststained, otherwise Good in a dustwrapper which is badly torn, with loss.