The Philosophy of Zoology Before Darwin: A translated and annotated version of the original French text by Edmond Perrier

This long-overlooked survey of the development of evolutionary theory is by far the most thorough and balanced account of its kind. Unlike most of the recent Anglo-centric literature that tends to focus almost exclusively on Darwin and natural selection, it follows the work of naturalists of many nationalities who used paleontology, comparative anatomy, and embryology in order to establish a linear continuity of evolving life though the long span of geological time.