The Problem of Race-Regeneration

New York: Moffat, Yard & Co., 1911. First edition.

1911 EUGENICS AND SOCIAL REFORM BY A PROGRESSIVE EUGENICIST.

11.5 x 18.5 cm hardcover, olive green cloth binding, title to cover, [2], 67 pp, light wear to corners, light edge-browning to pages. Very good in custom archival mylar cover.

HAVELOCK ELLIS (1859 – 1939) was an English physician, eugenicist, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer who studied human sexuality. He co-wrote the first medical textbook in English on homosexuality in 1897, and also published works on a variety of sexual practices and inclinations, as well as on transgender psychology. In his early writings, it was clear that Ellis concurred with the notion that there was a system of racial hierarchies, and that non-western cultures were considered to be "lower races". Before explicitly talking about eugenic topics, he used the prevalence of homosexuality in these 'lower races' to indicate the universality of the behavior. However, Ellis held much more moderate views than many contemporary eugenicists. In fact, he also fundamentally disagreed with Galton's leading idea that procreation restrictions were the same as marriage restrictions. Ellis resigned from his position as a Fellow of the Eugenics Society over its stance on sterilization in January 1931.

JAMES MARCHANT (1867–1956) was a British eugenicist, social reformer and author. He was leader of the National Vigilance Association, concerned with social morality, and also the Director of the National Council of Public Morals. In 1917, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

CITED by Engs in The Eugenics Movement (2005): "Another name for eugenics in the early twentieth century, 'race regeneration' was used by some British eugenicists. It was mentioned in 1911 in two tracts published by the National Council for Public Morals, entitled "New Tracts for the Times" by British eugenicists C.W. Saleeby in Methods of Race-Regeneration, and Havelock Ellis (1859-1939) in The Problem of Race-Regeneration (offered here)."