Instincts of the herd in peace and war

London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1916. FIRST EDITION. Original publisher’s cloth, worn; moderately foxed throughout, annotations on paste-downs and blanks. First edition. Trotter (1872-1939), an English neurosurgeon, was also known for his work in social psychology, specifically herd instinct. In this, his classic work on the subject, he argues that gregariousness is an instinct, based upon his study of beehives, flocks of sheep and wolf packs. His analysis of group psychology and the ability of large numbers of people to be swayed through an innate tendency supports his conclusions on crowd behavior. According to Adrian Harrington, this work clearly influence Ian Fleming, as “Trotter’s theory is cited in ‘Live and Let Die’ (Cape, 1954, p. 220), and revisited in both ‘From Russia With Love’ (1957) and ‘Thunderball’ (1961).”.