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David George GoyderMy Battle for LifeThe Autobiography of a Phrenologist
David George Goyder's autobiography was published London in 1857 when he was aged 61. This is the titlepage, reproduced from the copy in the library of the Swedenborg Society in London. I would like to express my thanks to the Society's Librarian, Nancy S. Dawson, for her help and patience while I worked in her library on this project. The status of the words My Battle for Life is unclear—is it the title or subtitle? What is clearer is its origin in Charles Dickens' least known Christmas story, first published in 1846, The Battle of Life: a love story. This was a book, which, to quote Wilkie Collins, "everybody abused and which, nevertheless, everybody read". It has, however, very little indeed to link it with Goyder's work. Rather than assuming authorship, Goyder is named as editor—a curious situation for an autobiography. He is stated to be "formerly Curator of the Glasgow Phrenological Society, etc. etc.". A substantial part of Goyder's autobiography is given over to considerable detail of his phrenological work. These pages have already been digitised and are available on John van Wyhe's The History of Phrenology on the Web. There is a small degree of overlap between John's pages and these. Facing the titlepage is a portrait of George Combe (1788-1858), a fellow phrenologist, Edinburgh lawyer and in John van Wyhe's words "the most prolific British phrenologist of the nineteenth century". At first sight, one assumes it to be a portrait of Goyder himself drawn by Combe, but comparison with a daguerreotype of Combe reveals the truth.
© Chris Goddard, 27 November, 2004
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