Darwin, CharlesABAA
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1860ref. 1263511860. New York: D. Appleton and Company 1860. 8vo 7 5/8 x 5 inches; 195 x 125 mm. 432 pp. Folding lithographed diagram speciation tree facing p. 108. Original dark green bead-grain cloth with covers decoratively stamped in blind and spine ruled in gilt and blind and lettered in gilt. Original dark brown coated endpapers front free endpaper removed; early ink signature J.F. Oakes dated 1868; bookplate of Isador H. Coriat and stamp of Edmund Brill with inscription. Professionally conserved: hinges strengthened head and foot of backstrip renewed. § First issue of the first American edition. One of the most influential scientific works of the nineteenth century "On the Origin of Species" was and still is one of the most controversial books ever printed. In it "Darwin not only drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been taken" Printing and the Mind of Man. Although published the same year as the second English edition the text of the first American edition with the two stereo reprints of the same year is identical to the first English edition Freeman 373 with the whale-bear story surviving intact. Freeman 377. Grolier/Horblit 23b "the most influential scientific work of the nineteenth century". Printing and the Mind of Man 344b describing the 1859 first edition. unknown books
1861ref. BCNH2001Octavo approx. 20 cm x 12.5 cm. Pagination: pp. xix 1 538. Complete with the half-title page and the single large folding lithographed diagram by William West facing page 123. Bound in the publisher's original green diagonal-wave-grain cloth covers blocked symmetrically in blind spine beautifully decorated and lettered in gilt. Original dark plum/salmon-glazed paper endpapers. Features the original intact paper binder's ticket of "Bound by Westleys & Co. Friar Street London" affixed cleanly to the lower corner of the front pastedown. An absolutely exceptional collector-grade copy in entirely untouched original cloth. Binding & Cloth: Far superior to typical surviving copies. The cloth retains its deep vibrant original green color completely escaping the severe brown uniform toning/sun-fading that alters almost all surviving Murray spines. The gilt lettering and decorative triangles on the spine remain brilliant and sharp. Minimal honest shelf wear to the spine ends and corners; no fraying or exposed boards. Hinges and Structural Integrity: Both the front and rear inner hinges are completely original tight and uncracked. The notoriously brittle salmon-glazed paper endpapers are unbroken along the gutters. Interior & Text Block: The pages are remarkably clean flat and bright free from the heavy distracting brown foxing that typically plagues Victorian paper stocks. A faint neat contemporary pencil signature is present on the upper margin of the half-title page adding excellent period provenance without detracting from readability. The Folding Diagram: The folding lithographed chart facing page 123 is in pristine condition. It opens smoothly is perfectly folded completely crisp and entirely free of the fold splits edge chips or heavy handling marks common to this plate. An immaculate 'no-excuses' example of one of the most influential scientific works ever published. Highly desirable in this rare state of preservation. John Murray, Albemarle Street hardcover
1864ref. 56000S.-Peterburg, 1864. 8vo. Bound in a beautiful recent pastiche-binding of brown half calf with marbled papers over boards and elegant gilding to spine. End-papers renewed. A few dampstains and a bit of brownspotting throughout. A nice copy. XIV, 399, (1) pp. + 1 plate.
1872ref. 56501Kjøbenhavn [Copenhagen], 1872 - (Kristiania [Oslo], 1890) - Stockholm, 1871. A very nice and harmonious set, in four excellent half calf bindings.1) The Danish translation: 1 volume 8vo. A nice contemporary half calf with gilding to spine and gilt title-label. Only light wear. Internally some light brownspotting. (19), XIII, 605, (1) pp.2) The Norwegian translation: 2 volumes small 8vo. Bound in two excellent, uniform, recent red morocco bindings in pastiche-style, with gilt lines to spines. The work is printed in quite bad paper, which is always yellowed and quite brittle. Thus, the first title-page has two small restorations from verso, far from arrecting printing. The second title-page had an old owener's signature and a previous owner's stamp. 379, (5)"" 383 pp.3) The Swedish translation: 1 volume large 8vo. Bound uncut and with the extremely scarce original front wrapper in a lovely later brown half morrocco binding in contemporary style, with five raised bands and gilt author and year to spine. Front wrapper bound on a strip at inner hinge and with a missing outer coner (far from affecting printing). Old owner's name to front wrapper. An excellent copy. XI, (1), 420 pp.
1864ref. 56000S.-Peterburg 1864. 8vo. Bound in a beautiful recent pastiche-binding of brown half calf with marbled papers over boards and elegant gilding to spine. End-papers renewed. A few dampstains and a bit of brownspotting throughout. A nice copy. XIV 399 1 pp. 1 plate. First edition of the first Russian translation of Darwin's "Origin of Species" a main reason for the widespread effect of Darwinism in Russia where the theory met less resistance in the 1860'ies than it did in Western Europe. In Russia Darwinism had a profound influence not only upon the different sciences but also on philosophy economic and political thought and the great literature of the period. For instance both Tolstoy and Dostoevsky referenced Darwin in their most important works as did numerous other thinkers of the period."In 1864 S.A. Rachinsky professor of plant physiology at St. Petersburg University produced the first Russian translation of the "Origin". Although not a masterpiece of translation art the book sold out so quickly that in 1865 it went through a second printing. By this time Darwin's ideas were discussed not only by scientists but also by such popular writers as Dmitri Pisarev and M. A. Antinovich." Glick p. 232. Rachinsky began translating the "Origin" in 1862 and wrote an important article on the theories presented in it while working on the translation. This article and the translation of the "Origin" into Russian were responsible for the great success and rapid widespread knowledge of Darwinian theory of evolution in Russia. "Darwin was concerned that the "Origin of Species" reach naturalists across the world but translations of that complicated work raised problems for Darwin. If he found it difficult to make the reader "understand what is meant" in England and America at least in those two countries he and the reader were discussing the "Origin of Species" in the same language. Foreign language editions raised not only the thorny question of translating Darwinian terms but also the problem of translators who often thought it proper to annotate their editions to explain the "significance" of Darwinism. The first Russian translation of the "Origin of Species" 1864 appeared however without any comment whatever by the translator Sergei A. Rachinsky professor of botany at the University of Moscow. Rachinsky had begun the translation in 1862 and published an article on Darwinism while continuing work on the translation in 1863." Rogers p. 485. In the year of publication of the translation 1864 Pisarev wrote a long article in "The Russian Word" which purports to be a review of this translation; the critic complains about the absence of notes and commentaries by the translator. Pisarev furthermore points to several errors in the translation and to numerous infelicities of expression. Acknowledging the importance of the work however and of the spreading of Darwinism in Russia he goes on in his own essay to provide a much more popular account of Darwin's theory and to impress upon his readers its revolutionary significance.Nikolai Strakhov also reviewed the translation immediately upon publication acknowledging the effect it would have. Strakhov however recognized potential dangers inherent in the theory and expressed them in his review of Rachinsky's translation. He praised the work for its thoroughness and rejoiced in the evidence that man constituted the highest stage of organic development; but then he went on to argue that by moving into questions of philosophy and theology the Darwinists were exceeding the limits of scientific evidence. Like Pisarev Tolstoy enthusiastically embraced Darwinism. "The first mention of Darwin in Tolstoy's literary "Nachlass" is found in one of the drafts to "War and Peace". There Darwin is listed apparently quite favorably among leading thinkers "working toward new truth" . Thus by the late 1860's the name of Darwin as a leading scientist was already familiar to Tolstoy and duly respected." McLean p. 160. A fact which is often overlooked is that Tolstoy actually knew Rachinsky quite well. Interestingly it was in a letter to Rachinsky in reply to a question about the structure of "Anna Karenina" that Tolstoy made the famous statement that all Tolstoy scholars and lovers know by heart: "I am proud of the architecture - the arches are joined in such a way that you cannot discover where the keystone is". Like Strakhov however Dostoevsky acknowledging the significance of the "Origin" saw the dangers of the theory. In the same year as the publication of Rachinsky's translation he lets the narrator in "Notes from Underground" 1864 launch his attack on Darwinism beginning: "As soon as they prove you for instance that you are descended from a monkey then it's no use scowling you just have to accept it."In "Crime and Punishment" two years later 1866 the Darwinian overtones inherent in Raskolnikov's theory of the extraordinary man are unmistakable. He describes the mechanism of "natural selection" where according to the laws of nature by the crossing of races and types a "genius" would eventually emerge. In general Darwinian themes and Darwin's name occur in many contexts in a large number of Dostoevsky's works.Freeman: 748. See: James Allen Rogers: The Reception of Darwin's Origin of Species by Russian Scientists. In: Isis Vol. 64 No. 4 Dec. 1973 pp. 484-503.Thomas F. Glick: The Comparative Reception of Darwinism. 1974.Hugh McLean: In Quest of Tolstoy. 2008. hardcover
ref. 56501Kjøbenhavn Copenhagen 1872 - Kristiania Oslo 1890 - Stockholm 1871. A very nice and harmonious set in four excellent half calf bindings.1 The Danish translation: 1 volume 8vo. A nice contemporary half calf with gilding to spine and gilt title-label. Only light wear. Internally some light brownspotting. 19 XIII 605 1 pp.2 The Norwegian translation: 2 volumes small 8vo. Bound in two excellent uniform recent red morocco bindings in pastiche-style with gilt lines to spines. The work is printed in quite bad paper which is always yellowed and quite brittle. Thus the first title-page has two small restorations from verso far from arrecting printing. The second title-page had an old owener's signature and a previous owner's stamp. 379 5; 383 pp.3 The Swedish translation: 1 volume large 8vo. Bound uncut and with the extremely scarce original front wrapper in a lovely later brown half morrocco binding in contemporary style with five raised bands and gilt author and year to spine. Front wrapper bound on a strip at inner hinge and with a missing outer coner far from affecting printing. Old owner's name to front wrapper. An excellent copy. XI 1 420 pp. A magnificent collection of first editions of the first Danish Norwegian and Swedish translations of Darwin's masterpiece "The Origin of Species" together constituting the introduction to "The Darwinian Revolution in Scandinavia".The first Scandinavian translation to appear was the Swedish which is also the rarest of the three. Darwinism was strongly opposed in Sweden where the primary reaction to the work came from religious institutions that were outraged and fiercely fought against spreading the ideas presented in "origin" in their country. The second Scandinavian translation to appear was the Danish which was translated in 1872 by the then young botanist J. P. Jacobsen who was soon to become one f Scandinavia's most celebrated and influential authors. He received world-wide fame as the author of "Marie Grubbe" and "Niels Lyhne" which founded literary naturalism in Europe. "In the early 1870's however he was still dedicated to science. In 1873 he received the University of Copenhagen's Gold Medal for his work on desmids single-celled green freshwater algae. The Descent of Man was also translated by Jacobsen and appeared in 1874-75."Darwin's ideas found great resonance in scientific circles in Denmark and his ideas were immediately recognized. "In the early 1870s With the Danish translation the literary critic Georg Brandes started promoting Darwin's ideas as part of his liberal ideology and soon Darwinism became the mark of a new generation of intellectuals. Both the Steenstrup circle and the Brandes circle held Darwin in high esteem but made completely different attributions to his theory. Consequently they both decided to raise money separately for the same Darwin. Darwin had borrowed the collection of barnacles from the Zoology Museum in Copenhagen with the help of Steenstrup. As a compliment Darwin sent him a signed copy of the Origin. Steenstrup acknowledged Darwin as an important fellow naturalist but like many of his colleagues at the University of Copenhagen he never accepted evolutionary theory. The initial scientific reaction to Darwin's work on evolution by means of natural selection was respectful but made few converts. memorial in 1882. Independently Darwinism transformed as it became part of popular culture. " Kjærsgaard Darwinism comes to Denmark.The Norwegian translation was the last of the three to appear but it is quite scarce and very difficult to come by. It was published by businessman and publisher Johan Sørensen 1830-1918 as a part of 'Bibliothek for de tusen hjem' Library for Every Home."The first volume came out at the end of 1889 in five parts and a total of 379 pages. Each part cost 30 øre making a total price of 1 kroner 50 øre. The following year 1890 the second volume appeared and this consisted of four parts totaling 383 pages and cost 1 kroner 20 øre. The books were translated from the English sixth and final edition by the Master of the Arendal Public Secondary College Ingebret Suleng 1852-1928" Glick The Reception of Charles Darwin in Europe.1. The Danish translation: Om Arternes Oprindelse ved Kvalitetsvalg eller ved de heldigst stillede Formers Sejr i Kampen for Tilværelsen. Efter Originalens femte Udgave oversat af J.P. Jacobsen. Kjøbenhavn Gyldendalske Boghandel F. Hegel 1872. 8vo. 10XIII6051 pp. - Freeman No 643 Freeman with wrong collation as he omits half-title and content-leaves.2. The Norwegian translation: Arternes Oprindelse gjennem naturligt Udvalg eller de bedst skikkede Formers bevarelse i Striden for Livet. Oversat efter Originalens VI. Udgave af Ingebret Suleng. I- II. Kristiania Bibliothek for de tusen hjem. Fagerstrand pr. Høvik 1890. Small 8vo. 1-34-3794;1-34-383 pp. - Not in Freeman.3. The Swedish translation: Om Arternas Uppkomst genom naturligt Urval eller de bäst utrustade Rasernas Bestånd i Kampen för Tillvaron. Öfversättning från femte Originalupplagan af A.M. Selling. Stockholm L.J. Hiertas Förlagsexpedition 1871. I-IVV-XI420 pp. 1 plate. - Freeman No 793 Freeman having the wrong year of publication and not mentioning the plate. hardcover
1860ref. 2D-2DIJ-J9AND. Appleton and Company. Very Good. 1860. Unknown Binding. Appleton 1860. First American edition fourth issue with New Edition Revised and Augmented by the Author on title page. 3 blurbs opp. title. Pages: xi 440 2. Folding plate. Yellow endpapers cracked at rear but holding well. Laid flat a few places but binding tight. Mispagination of 116-21. Freeman 380. Original dark green blind stamped cloth light rubbed slight fraying top spine. Ink gift inscription.; 432 pages . D. Appleton and Company unknown
1860ref. 243985New York: D. Appleton and Company 1860. First American edition first printing second state. Publisher's deep plum brown cloth blind embossed spine titled in gilt. Spine sunned with some offsetting boards mild shelf wear overall a near fine copy. D. Appleton and Company unknown
1861ref. 33919London: John Murray 1861. A very early issuance and only the third edition seventh thousand of the title with important additions and corrections of Darwin's monumental work. This edition is printed in the same format and binding as the first edition and includes "An Historical Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species" in which Darwin acknowledges his fellow scientists as regards the theory of evolution as well as a table of corrections to the first and second editions. Two-thousand copies only were printed and issued in April 1861. Folding lithographed diagram by W. West. Quarto in 12's 7 3/4" x 5 7/8" 193mm x 124mm publisher's original green cloth gilt decorated on the spine and blocked in blind on the covers salmon glazed paper end-leaves with the binders Edmonds & Remnants ticket on the rear paste-down. Housed in a handsome morocco labeled slipcase with chemise. i-v vi-xix 538 2 ads. and with one folding plate. A very fresh and clean copy fine and very bright both internally and externally with only very light evidence of age or use. The end-leaves in excellent condition and unusually clean the hinges strong and pleasing and without refurbishment a slight bit of rubbing only at the extremities. An especially pleasing copy unusually well preserved. One of the best we have seen. AN ESPECIALLY HANDSOME AND PLEASING COPY OF THIS GREAT BOOK. THE THIRD AND HIGHLY IMPORTANT ISSUANCE OF CHARLES DARWIN'S MASTERWORK. The book is rare in cloth in this condition. Darwin's Revolutionary Masterwork in which he not only "drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been taken." PMM Together with Copernicus' DE REVOLUTIONIBUS and Newton's PRINCIPIA it is deemed one of the three greatest and most important scientific works ever penned. "The most influential scientific work of the nineteenth century" and "The most important biological work ever written" Horblit Freeman. Darwin's elaboration of the theory of natural selection laid the groundwork for the controversy over the evolution of man and with only slight modification by such scientists as Stephen Jay Gould Darwin's ideas remain the umbra under which most current biological research is conducted. The import of the ORIGIN need hardly be stated. This edition for the first time contains Darwin's historical treatment of theories of evolution: "An Historical Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin of Species" xiii-xix. Here Darwin acknowledges the impact of Lamarck Patrick Matthew and others right up to 1860 on his thought. As such it is the first edition that situates Darwin in his broader intellectual context. Copies of the ORIGIN are often quite worn but the present item is unusually well preserved bright clean tight and especially handsome. The book was if ever used handled very kindly indeed. Darwin had intended the book to be an abstract of his 'big book' on transmutation of which only the first part Variation Under Domestication 1868 was published in his lifetime. John Murray hardcover
1871ref. 376128London: John Murray 1871. First edition first issue with errata on verso of vol. II title-leaf. viii 423 1; viii ii 475 1 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Publisher's green cloth. Light wear to covers expertly recased. Bookplate. First edition first issue with errata on verso of vol. II title-leaf. viii 423 1; viii ii 475 1 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Darwin's Descent of Man created an uproar second only to his Origin of the Species; however "contrary to popular error prevalent now as well as then Darwin never said that man was descended from apes let alone monkeys; what he claimed was that man's ancestors if alive today would have to be classified among the Primates" De Beer Charles Darwin pp. 210-1. ODNB further clarifies "The Descent understood by Darwin as a sequel to the Origin was written with a maturity and depth of learning that marked Darwin's status as an élite gentleman of science" Freeman 937 John Murray unknown
1871ref. 376128London: John Murray 1871. First edition first issue with errata on verso of vol. II title-leaf. viii 423 1; viii ii 475 1 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Publisher's green cloth. Light wear to covers expertly recased. Bookplate. First edition first issue with errata on verso of vol. II title-leaf. viii 423 1; viii ii 475 1 pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Darwin's Descent of Man created an uproar second only to his Origin of the Species; however "contrary to popular error prevalent now as well as then Darwin never said that man was descended from apes let alone monkeys; what he claimed was that man's ancestors if alive today would have to be classified among the Primates" De Beer Charles Darwin pp. 210-1. ODNB further clarifies "The Descent understood by Darwin as a sequel to the Origin was written with a maturity and depth of learning that marked Darwin's status as an élite gentleman of science" Freeman 937 John Murray unknown books
ref. 191539London: William Pickering 1986-89. A finely bound set of the first complete edition The Pickering Masters edition being the first complete collected works of Darwin to be published remarkably over 100 years after his death. 29 vols bound in 20 octavo 228 x 152 mm. Recent green morocco spines lettered and tooled in gilt 5 raised bands covers framed with wave roll green marbled endpapers top edge gilt. Faint marks to binding and edges spines faded: in near-fine condition. Freeman F1921. hardcover
1893ref. 10123Fifteen volume set. Westminster Edition/ Authorized Edition. Limited to 1000 copies in which this is number 16. Half brown morocco with five raised bands and gilt particulars to spine. Top edge gilt; lightly deckle fore-edge. Previous owner's bookplate neatly to the front pastedown to each volume. Slight repairs to some spine heads. Puncture to rear board with indentations through p. 208 of "Formation of Vegetable Mould." Minor scuffing to corners but overall an attractive set. 6 x 8.5 in 15 x 21.5 cm D. Appleton and Company hardcover
1866ref. 42820890FOURTH EDITION. Fifteen hundred copies were printed. "It was again extensively altered and it was in this one that the date if the first edition as given on the verso of the half title is corrected from October 1st to November 24th" Freeman. On the Origin of Species is "certainly the greatest biological book ever written" Freeman and "the most important single work in science" Dibner. Darwin's theory of the origin of species by means of natural selection arose out of his studies in the 1830s during and after the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle. From 1831 to 1836 Darwin sailed around the world on the Beagle. During this five-year voyage Darwin and the Beagle visited the Galapagos Islands Brazil Argentina Tierra del Fuego Chile Peru Tahiti Australia New Zealand and other islands and countries finally returning to England by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope. Darwin observed "It appears to me that nothing can be more improving to a young naturalist than a journey in distant countries." The voyage of the Beagle was "the most important event in Darwin's intellectual life and in the history of biological science. Darwin sailed with no formal scientific training. He returned a hard-headed man of science knowing the importance of evidence almost convinced that species had not always been as they were since creation but had undergone change. … The experiences of his five years … and what they led to built up into a process of epoch-making importance in the history of thought" DSB. Over the coming thirty years Darwin refined the ideas that had germinated aboard the Beagle and finally published them in On the Origin of Species. Darwin concluded his book "There is grandeur in this view of life with its several powers having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that whilst this plan has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been and are being evolved." Darwin's ideas about evolution and natural selection are the underpinnings of modern biological science. Moreover they have given us a new way of viewing and talking about the world. "Darwin not only not only drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the order of natural things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had finally been established" Printing and the Mind of Man 344b. Provenance: contemporary inscription "Adamson The Towers Didsbury." Daniel Adamson was an English engineer boiler manufacturer and driving force behind the Manchester Ship Canal in the 1880s. His home the Towers is sometimes called the Calendar House for its 365 windows 52 doors and 12 chimneys. Freeman 385. John Murray hardcover
1874ref. 6679London: John Murray 1874. Second edition. First edition first issue of the book in which Darwin finally gave his public account of two ideas he had withheld from the Origin: the descent of Homo sapiens and - his more original contribution - the mechanism of sexual selection. On page 2 of Volume I the word evolution appears the first appearance of the word in any Darwin work a year before the sixth edition of the Origin. The descent of man made him famous. Sexual selection required his readers to credit birds fishes and insects with something like aesthetic judgment - that females choosing generation after generation had driven ornament that natural selection alone could not explain. Wallace would not accept it and most of the scientific community followed him. Sexual selection remained a neglected corner of Darwinism for a century until Trivers 1972 Zahavi 1975 and Hamilton and Zuk 1982 vindicated female choice and placed it at the centre of evolutionary biology. . What Darwin Left Out of the Origin. First edition first issue of the book in which Darwin finally gave his public account of two ideas he had withheld from the Origin of Species: the descent of Homo sapiens from pre-existing forms and - his more original and more contested contribution - the mechanism of sexual selection. The Origin had deliberately excluded man from its argument "light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history" and had mentioned sexual selection only briefly as a special case within natural selection. Twelve years later with the evolutionary argument secured in the scientific literature and the public polemics largely past Darwin set out the two positions he had kept in reserve. The first made him famous; the second neglected for a century was resurrected only in the 1970s and is now one of the central research programmes in evolutionary biology. The twelve-year delay was not accidental. Darwin had been collecting notes on human descent since the Beagle years of the 1830s but had withheld them for strategic reasons. He had written to Wallace in December 1857 that he would avoid the subject of man as surrounded by too many prejudices even while admitting that it was the highest and most interesting problem for the naturalist. By 1871 the climate had changed. Huxley's Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature 1863 had done much of the defensive work; Lyell's Antiquity of Man 1863 had established deep human prehistory; and Haeckel's Generelle Morphologie 1866 had pushed the evolutionary argument onto the Continent and drawn the first explicit phylogenies of the human line. The Descent therefore arrived not as the opening of the controversy but as Darwin's own statement delivered at a moment when the main resistance had already been absorbed. The storm that had greeted the Origin did not repeat itself in 1871; Darwin wrote to a friend that he was surprised to find everyone talking about the book without being shocked and took this as a measure of the increasing liberality of the age. The first volume opens with a page that would prove diagnostic. On page 2 in the introduction Darwin refers to the principle of gradual evolution - the first appearance of the word evolution in any of his published works a year before its appearance in the sixth edition of the Origin. The word had hitherto belonged to embryology and to Herbert Spencer; Darwin had avoided it in the Origin in favour of descent with modification and natural selection partly because evolution still carried its older sense of the unfolding of a preformed germ and partly because Spencer's usage had given it metaphysical baggage Darwin preferred not to inherit. That he now allowed the word onto his own page marks a small but real shift in nomenclature: from 1871 forward the subject would be called evolution and the Descent is where Darwin formally joined the convention he had helped to make inevitable. The first volume and the opening chapters of the second are devoted to the argument for the descent of man from a pre-existing form. The strategy is cumulative: no single piece of evidence is decisive but each addition narrows the space of alternative explanations. Darwin begins with the homologies of bodily structure between man and the other mammals - the bones of the hand the arrangement of the viscera the musculature - arguing that these resemblances are inexplicable except as the signature of common descent. He proceeds to embryonic development where he reproduces the famous side-by-side comparison of a human embryo with that of a dog the Ecker-Bischoff figure Vol. I p. 15 arguing that in their early stages the two are practically indistinguishable and that embryology therefore preserves in miniature the shared ancestry of the vertebrate body plan. He turns to rudimentary organs - the vermiform appendix the musculus auricularis the coccyx the tubercle on the outer edge of the ear - as fossil evidence carried in the living body structures that make sense only on the assumption that they once served a function in a remoter ancestor. And he finally addresses the mental faculties arguing from comparative psychology - the affection of dogs the jealousy of birds the rudimentary reason observable in the higher apes - that there is no unbridgeable gap between human and animal cognition but rather a difference of degree. The argument leans on his cousin Francis Galton's Hereditary Genius 1869 which had established to Darwin's satisfaction that mental and moral qualities were inherited along the same channels as physical ones and could therefore be brought within the selective argument. The conclusion to the first part is stated with characteristic caution: that man is descended from some less highly organised form and that the grounds upon which the conclusion rests will Darwin writes never be shaken. A long chapter on the races of man mounts an argument against the polygenist position - then widely held particularly in the American anthropological literature after Morton and Nott - that the human races constitute separate species with separate origins. Darwin argues from the fertility of crosses from shared mental and moral characteristics and from the continuous rather than discrete distribution of racial traits for a single origin of Homo sapiens. His ethnographic scaffolding carries the prejudices of its period; his conclusion however is monogenist and anti-polygenist and in the politics of nineteenth-century race science that was the liberal position decisively opposed to the scientific racism then institutionalised in the American schools. The moral sense receives its own treatment. Against those who held that conscience and altruism must be divinely implanted because they could not be derived from self-interest Darwin argues that the social instincts - present in rudimentary form throughout the higher animals - provide a natural foundation for ethics. An animal that lives in a group is selected for behaviours that sustain the group; over generations those behaviours become internalised as moral feelings. It is the earliest sustained naturalistic account of ethics in the evolutionary literature and it is precisely the argument that Wallace a recent convert to spiritualism refused to accept. With the descent of man established Darwin turns in the remainder of the second volume to his second and originally his primary subject: sexual selection. This is the book's most sustained theoretical innovation. Darwin had been troubled since the 1850s by a class of biological traits that natural selection could not easily explain - elaborate male ornament ornate plumage antlers display behaviours bright colours - which often appeared to reduce the bearer's chances of survival rather than enhance them. The peacock's tail had become his standing example of the problem. Writing to Asa Gray in April 1860 only months after the publication of the Origin Darwin confessed that "the sight of a feather in a peacock's tail . makes me sick." The remark is only half a joke. It identifies the precise class of phenomena that resisted the argument of the Origin and it locates the theoretical problem that would occupy him for the next eleven years. The solution developed in the Descent was that a second mechanism distinct from natural selection was at work: selection not for survival but for reproductive success acting through mate choice and intrasexual competition. Sexual selection in Darwin's formulation has two components. The first - male-male combat - accounts for weapons and body size: antlers horns spurs large canines the fighting armature of rival males. The second - female choice - accounts for ornament: song colour display behaviour elaborate plumage. The implication was radical. Female preference exercised generation after generation was sufficient to drive the evolution of male traits that would otherwise be selected against. Darwin was asking his readers to believe that birds fishes and insects were in effect making aesthetic judgments and that those judgments had consequences at the species level. The comparative tour that occupies the bulk of Volume II - insects Chapters X-XI fishes amphibians and reptiles Chapter XII containing the figure of Plecostomus barbatus a South American siluroid catfish in which the male's mouth and interoperculum are fringed with a beard of stiff scale-like hairs of which the female shews hardly a trace birds Chapters XIII-XVI by far the longest treatment taking in courtship display vocal performance plumage and the geographical distribution of ornament and mammals Chapters XVII-XX - is in effect a six-hundred-page argument that this aesthetic mechanism is real widespread and responsible for most of the secondary sexual characters in the animal kingdom. Darwin's eldest daughter Henrietta Emma Darwin had read the manuscript and suggested corrections of style; in a letter of 28 March 1871 Darwin called her his very dear coadjutor and fellow-labourer and the book's argumentative clarity owes something to her editorial hand. The wood-engraved illustrations were drawn from life by the zoological artist T. W. Wood whose earlier work for Alfred Russel Wallace's Malay Archipelago 1869 had made him the best-placed draughtsman in England for the natural-history figures the Descent required; his economical diagnostic style suited the comparative method of the second volume where the illustrations carry much of the argumentative weight. The corrected proofs went to Murray on 15 January 1871 and the first issue of 2500 copies appeared on 24 February priced at £1/4/- the two-volume set. Demand was immediate: within three weeks a reprint had been ordered and by the end of March 1871 some 4500 copies were in print earning Darwin close to £1500. The religious press was hostile - the Edinburgh Review the Dublin Review and the Quarterly Review all published long attacks - but the scientific periodicals took the book more or less on its own terms. The most damaging review was the Quarterly's published anonymously in July 1871: Darwin guessed correctly that the author was St George Jackson Mivart Huxley's disillusioned former pupil whose own On the Genesis of Species January 1871 had already mounted a Catholic-metaphysical critique of natural selection. Mivart argued that the Descent would unsettle half-educated classes and licence moral relativism; Darwin felt the sting told Huxley that he expected to be viewed as the most despicable of men and was relieved when Huxley counter-attacked in the Contemporary Review that autumn. The episode permanently soured the Darwin-Mivart relationship and figures prominently in the 1874 second edition where Darwin silently corrected several of Mivart's specific objections without naming him. Translations appeared quickly: German Carus 1871 the two-volume Stuttgart edition that Darwin came to regard as authoritative and used when correcting his own text for later editions Dutch Hartogh Heys van Zouteveen 1871-2 French Moulinié 1872 Italian Russian and Swedish all within three years of the first printing. By the time Darwin died in 1882 the Descent had reached a wider international readership than any of his other works with the sole exception of the Origin itself. The present copy is the first issue of February 1871 distinguished from the second issue March 1871 2000 copies by four diagnostic features all of which are present and correct. Among them is the separately tipped-in Postscript leaf inserted after the Contents of Volume II on which Darwin acknowledges "a serious and unfortunate error" in his argument on sexual selection affecting Volume I pp. 297-9 and Volume II pp. 161 and 237. Darwin had realised too late to correct the printed text that he had conflated two distinct phenomena: the coincidence between the onset of sexual maturity and the appearance of secondary sexual characters which he had attributed to sexual selection and which he now recognised was better explained by natural selection operating at a correspondingly late life-stage. The Postscript does not rewrite the passages; it flags them and the opening of the passage on p. 297 of Volume I was entirely reset for the second issue. The first-issue leaves are therefore witnesses to Darwin's thinking in the act of correcting itself. Institutional copies of the first issue are securely held at Cambridge University Library Darwin's own copy in the Darwin Archive the British Library the Bodleian the American Museum of Natural History the Linda Hall Library the Huntington and the Norman Library lot 599 in the 1998 Christie's dispersal; auction appearances of complete first-issue sets in publisher's green cloth are not common at the better grades with the standard reference points the Garden 1989 Sotheby's catalogue the Norman 1998 Christie's sale and the Nordmann 2006 Christie's Paris dispersal. Freeman's four-feature collation is the operative test for assigning a given copy to the first issue rather than to the second. The present copy carries all four features and an indistinct pencil monogram apparently EH at the head of the Volume I half-title the only ownership mark in either volume; the marginal annotations and underlinings are the unsigned hand of a careful contemporary reader who worked through both volumes and who paused with particular attention at the bird and mammal chapters of Volume II. Wallace would not accept female choice. The disagreement had been building for years. Darwin and Wallace had corresponded intensively through 1867 and 1868 about the coloration of female birds the selective meaning of sexual dimorphism and - the point that eventually separated them - whether animals were capable of the kind of preference that Darwin's theory required. Wallace's 1868 Westminster Review essay on ornament already hedged: he would allow that bright colour could indicate vigour but not that it could be chosen for beauty alone. In his 15 March 1871 Academy review of the Descent he broke with Darwin publicly and in the papers that followed through the 1870s he argued that apparent ornament was really cryptic colouration or species recognition misread and that female choice - which required crediting animals with something like aesthetic sense - was implausible. Most of the scientific community followed Wallace. Sexual selection remained a neglected and faintly embarrassing corner of Darwinism for most of a century mentioned in textbooks as a historical footnote but rarely taken up as a research programme. It was resurrected only in the 1970s when Robert Trivers's 1972 parental-investment paper gave female choice a rigorous economic foundation Amotz Zahavi's 1975 handicap principle explained why costly ornaments could function as honest signals of genetic quality and W. D. Hamilton and Marlene Zuk's 1982 Science paper connected ornament to parasite resistance. Sexual selection is now one of the central research programmes in evolutionary biology and Darwin's six hundred pages are read as a founding document rather than a historical curiosity. References: Printing and the Mind of Man 169 - Garrison-Morton 170 - Norman 599 - Freeman 937 - R. B. Freeman The Works of Charles Darwin: An Annotated Bibliographical Handlist 2nd ed. Folkestone 1977 pp. 128-31 - van Wyhe ed. The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online F937. Two volumes 8vo 191 × 125 mm. Vol. I: pp. viii 423 1 16 pp. publisher's advertisements dated January 1871; Vol. II: pp. viii ii: errata on verso of title leaf and tipped-in Postscript leaf 475 1 16 pp. publisher's advertisements dated January 1871. First issue: the verso of the Vol. II title leaf carries the printed errata list seventeen corrections for Vol. I and eight for Vol. II replaced in the second issue by a list of nine other works by Darwin; the separately tipped-in Postscript leaf pp. ix-x is inserted after the Contents of Vol. II; the verso of the Vol. II half-title carries the printer's note William Clowes and Sons Stamford Street and Charing Cross blank in the second issue; and the first word on p. 297 of Vol. I reads transmitted replaced by When in the second issue after the pages had been reset. Numerous wood-engraved illustrations in the text. Publisher's original green diaper-pattern vertical-rib cloth spines lettered and decorated in gilt with foliate ornaments at head and foot "LONDON / JOHN MURRAY" at the foot of each spine blind-stamped panelled boards yellow endpapers. Faint pencil ownership monogram at the head of the Vol. I half-title indistinct. Occasional pencil underlinings and small marginal annotations in a contemporary hand throughout. Rubbing and light wear to extremities and spine caps; minor chipping to a few leaf edges; foxing to text block edges and occasional light internal foxing; text block of Vol. II split at p. 161 but holding; entirely unrestored. . John Murray unknown
ref. 145367Rare autograph from Charles Darwin boldly signed "With M. Darwin's Best Compliments." Matted and framed with a portrait of Darwin. The entire piece measures 11.9 inches by 9 inches. An exceptional presentation. Charles Darwin was an English naturalist geologist and biologist best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors and in a joint publication with Alfred Russel Wallace introduced his scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. Darwin published his theory of evolution with compelling evidence in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species overcoming scientific rejection of earlier concepts of transmutation of species. By the 1870s the scientific community and much of the general public had accepted evolution as a fact. However many favored competing explanations and it was not until the emergence of the modern evolutionary synthesis from the 1930s to the 1950s that a broad consensus developed in which natural selection was the basic mechanism of evolution. Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences explaining the diversity of life. unknown
1871ref. 2980London: John Murray 1871. First edition. Original cloth. Very Good. FIRST EDITION FIRST ISSUE one of only 2500 copies in original cloth of Darwin's seminal work on the evolution of man. "This is really two works. The first demolished the theory that the universe was created for Man while in the second Darwin presented a mass of evidence in support of his earlier hypothesis regarding sexual selection. In the Origin Darwin had avoided discussing the place occupied by homo sapiens in the scheme of natural selection stating only that `light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history.' Twelve years later he made good his promise with The Descent of Man in which he compared man's physical and psychological characteristics to similar traits in apes and other animals showing how even man's mind and moral sense could have developed through evolutionary processes. In discussing man's ancestry Darwin did not claim that man was directly descended from apes as we know them today but stated simply that the extent ancestors of homo sapiens would have to be classified among the primates; however this statement as misinterpreted by the popular press caused a furor second only to that raised by the Origin" Norman 599. "The word `evolution' occurs for the first time in any of Darwin's works on page 2 of the first volume of the first edition" Freeman p.129. London: John Murray 1871. Octavo original green cloth; custom box. Two volumes. First issue with second volume with errata on verso of title and Postscript leaf tipped in after Contents. With 16-page publishers' catalog at end of each volume dated January 1871 first issue. Nearly invisible expert repair to upper hinge of volume 1; small blindstamp on front free endpapers; foxing to last few leaves of ads in both volumes as often; small hole likely paper flaw and line of soiling to volume 2 title page. A very good copy in original cloth. John Murray unknown
1871ref. 2980London: John Murray 1871. First edition. Original cloth. Very Good. FIRST EDITION FIRST ISSUE one of only 2500 copies in original cloth of Darwin's seminal work on the evolution of man. "This is really two works. The first demolished the theory that the universe was created for Man while in the second Darwin presented a mass of evidence in support of his earlier hypothesis regarding sexual selection. In the Origin Darwin had avoided discussing the place occupied by homo sapiens in the scheme of natural selection stating only that `light will be thrown on the origin of man and his history.' Twelve years later he made good his promise with The Descent of Man in which he compared man's physical and psychological characteristics to similar traits in apes and other animals showing how even man's mind and moral sense could have developed through evolutionary processes. In discussing man's ancestry Darwin did not claim that man was directly descended from apes as we know them today but stated simply that the extent ancestors of homo sapiens would have to be classified among the primates; however this statement as misinterpreted by the popular press caused a furor second only to that raised by the Origin" Norman 599. "The word `evolution' occurs for the first time in any of Darwin's works on page 2 of the first volume of the first edition" Freeman p.129. London: John Murray 1871. Octavo original green cloth; custom box. Two volumes. First issue with second volume with errata on verso of title and Postscript leaf tipped in after Contents. With 16-page publishers' catalog at end of each volume dated January 1871 first issue. Nearly invisible expert repair to upper hinge of volume 1; small blindstamp on front free endpapers; foxing to last few leaves of ads in both volumes as often; small hole likely paper flaw and line of soiling to volume 2 title page. A very good copy in original cloth. John Murray unknown books
ref. 70866Fine illustrated and antiquarian Natural history . 2nd. Ed. 2nd. Issue. Pub. John Murray London. 1860. pp.ix 502 with half-title fold-out lithographic diagram plus 32-page John Murray catalogue dated Jan. 1860. 8vo. Hardback. With Fifth Thousand on title-page as called for by Freeman. This copy has benefited from some professional conservation. Internally the blank fore-margins of six leaves incl. half and full-titles have been neatly strengthened with conservation material and the blank corner of two leaves repaired. Internal hinges have been sympathetically strengthened retaining the original endpapers. The fore-edges of the free-endpapers show a little wear o/w. the contents are very clean and nr. fine. With original binders ticket of Edmonds and Remnants London. The spine ends of the original decorated green cloth binding have been relaid - the binding being nicely bright and in thor. vg. condition. A very pleasing copy. Freeman 376 binding variant a. The 1250 copies of the first edition of 1859 were sold out almost immediately and this revised second edition identified by fifth thousand on the title-page was published just three months later. In a very important addition to the text Darwin here tries to reconcile the theory of evolution with the traditional conception of Gods creation of the world. Fine illustrated and antiquarian Natural history hardcover
1871ref. 21219841871. London: John Murray. 1871. 8vo. Original green cloth covers embossed in blind spines titled in gilt; pp. 423 16pp. adverts. and pp. 475 16pp. adverts. with 76 wood-engraved illustrations; cloth a little mottled light foxing to prelims and ads previous owner's pencilled signature to half-titles otherwise very clean hinges strong very good.First edition first issue with Murray's advertisements at the end of each volume dated ""Jan. 1871"". Vol. I p. 297 starts with ""transmitted"". Vol. II has the inserted postscript and has errata on the verso of the title-page. Freeman points out that ""the word evolution occurs for the first time in any of Darwin's works on page 2 of the first volume.""In this work Darwin expounded fully his theory of sexual selection and discussed at length the link he recognised between human and ape lineage. This piece further enhanced Darwin's fame - if not his popularity - and is one of the most significant works in the evolutionary debate. It addresses the issue of human evolution in terms that Darwin had shied away from in On the Origin of Species knowing how controversial his ideas would be. By 1871 he had the confidence and stature to publicise this crucially important part of his theory of natural selection.Freeman 937. hardcover
ref. 50698London : printed by W. Clowes and Sons for John Murray 1861. Third edition. Octavo original green cloth by Edmonds & Remnants London retaining their ticket on lower pastedown boards blocked in blind with rules enclosing foliate designs and central panel spine lettered in gilt corners slightly bumped light bumping to head and foot of spine binding variant B no preference without full point period after “MURRAY” in spine imprint tan endpapers bookplate of George John Armytage F.S.A. to front pastedown pp. xix; blank 538; 2 - publisher's catalogue folding lithographic plate by William West after Darwin internally clean a fine and crisp copy of the third edition. The first edition of 1859 a great rarity is described in Freeman as "". the most important biological work ever written.""; Dibner "". the most important single work in science.""; Printing & the Mind of Man "". revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been taken"". The third edition of which 2000 copies were printed contains substantial revisions by Darwin unlike the second edition which was essentially a reprint of the first. The third edition 'was extensively altered and is of interest for the addition of a table of differences between it and the second edition a table which occurs in each subsequent edition and also for the addition of the historical sketch. which was written to satisfy complaints that Darwin had not sufficiently considered his predecessors in the general theory of evolution. there is also a postscript on page xii. concerning a review of the earlier editions by Asa Gray' Freeman p. 78. A very fine example. Freeman 381 binding variant B without full point period after “MURRAY” in spine imprint there being no preference as to variant. Â hardcover
ref. 67910Fine illustrated and antiquarian Natural history . 1st. Ed. 3rd. Iss. Pub. London Henry Colburn. 1840. pp.i-iv vii viii-xiv 615 pp.609-629 addenda plus 2 fold out charts at pp.xiv and pp.538 4 text woodcuts and 16-pages of Colburn adverts dated August 1839. 8vo. Hardback. Internally nr. fine with minor scattered spotting to contents and a neat repair to one fold-out plate. Original decorated blue cloth with spine professionally relaid and neat restoration to the imprint. Loosely inserted on The Athenaeum Pall Mall London headed paper is a handwritten note dated 22/04/1947 by the then purchaser of this copy in which he explains who he bought the book from. A most pleasing copy. Freeman 12. Darwins first published book is undoubtedly the most often read and stands second only to On the origin of species as the most often printed. It is an important travel book in its own right and its relation to the background of his evolutionary ideas has often been stressed Freeman. It first appeared in its own right in 1839. We offer for sale here a copy of the final third issue of the first edition and it is identical to the second except that the conjugate half-title and title leaves have been reprinted. This is the scarcest of the three but in my experience the maps are always inserted in the text. Some copies also have the 16 pp inserted advertisements of August 1839. Freeman. Fine illustrated and antiquarian Natural history hardcover
1846ref. MS0029bvi279 pages with frontispiece folding map 5 folding plates one folding hand-colored lithographic geological cross-section by G.B. Sowerby Junior figures and index. Lacks the 32 pages of advertisements which is often the case. Octavo 9" x 5 1/2" bound in half leather over marbled boards with five raised spine bands and black label in gilt lettering. Freeman 273; Norman 857; Sabin 18646 First edition. Published in 1846 Geological Observations on South America is the third and final part of Charles Darwin's geological trilogy detailing the findings from his famous five-year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle under the command of Captain Robert FitzRoy. The trilogy consists of Part 1: The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs 1842; Part 2: Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands 1844; and Part 3: Geological Observations on South America 1846 — dedicated entirely to the continental mainland where Darwin spent the majority of his land-based exploration. It was not until 1851 that an edition of all three geological works was first published. The third and last of Darwin's geological reports on the Beagle voyage. In it he described the pampas the plateaux and the Andes showing how they had been gradually pushed up in the way Lyell had surmised without the intervention of catastrophic events. The descriptions of secondary fossil shells from South America illustrated in Sowerby's plates are by Edward Forbes. Darwin argued that vast landforms—including the pampas plateaus and the Andes mountain chain—were formed by slow continuous upward pressure over immense periods strongly supporting Charles Lyell's uniformitarian geology rather than sudden catastrophic events. Seismic and Volcanic History: Detailed logs and analysis of South American earthquakes volcanic rock mineralogy lava granite and deformed metamorphic strata. Fossil Contributions: Features specialized descriptions of tertiary and secondary fossil shells contributed by paleontologists G. B. Sowerby and Edward Forbes. Included original engraved folding map and hand-colored geological cross-sections illustrating the terrain and strata of the continent. Condition; Rebound without publisher's 32p pages of advertisement. Folding map repaired but with some tears. hand-colored plate with tears at folds some bumping and rubbing at the corners boards lightly scuffed some light toning plate IV with some edge wear else very good of a scarce title. Stewart & Murray for Smith, Elder & Company hardcover
1859ref. 105735London: Lovell Reeve 1859. First Edition. Hardcover. London Lovell Reeve November 1859 first separate edition. Large quarto viii 128 pages complete with the half-title. Later half roan and stippled cloth lightly rubbed at the extremities; a very crisp and bright copy. 'The first important botanical work by a supporter of the doctrine of evolution by natural selection' Norman often quoted but not going nearly far enough in our opinion!. A singular rarity of the utmost importance. In the concluding paragraph of the postscript unique to this edition Hooker writes: 'I would further observe here to avoid ambiguity that my friend Mr. Darwin's just completed work "On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection" sic from the perusal of much of which in MS. I have profited so largely had not appeared during the printing of the Essay or I should have largely quoted it. Kew November 4 1859'. Lovell Reeve hardcover
ref. 47285London : printed by W. Clowes and Sons for John Murray 1860. Second edition second state fifth thousand. Octavo original green cloth by Edmonds & Remnants London retaining their ticket on lower pastedown boards blocked in blind with rules enclosing foliate designs and central panel spine gilt recased with original spine laid down repairs to head and foot of spine upper joint cracked light bumping to corners brown endpapers with contemporary gift inscription dated 1860 pp. ix 1 - instructions to the binder 502 32 publisher's catalogue dated January 1860 folding lithographic plate by William West after Darwin occasional light foxing lower hinge a little cracked small pen note on p. 1 mentioning the publication date of the first printing a good copy of the second edition. The first edition of 1859 a great rarity is described in Freeman as "". the most important biological work ever written.""; Dibner "". the most important single work in science.""; Printing & the Mind of Man "". revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been taken"". The second edition was issued in two states the difference being the addition of the text 'Fifth thousand' to the title page. Three thousand copies of the second edition were printed three months after the first edition of 1250 copies sold out in a single day. The combined number of copies which had been printed by January 1860 was now 4250 hence entering the fifth thousand. Freeman 376. Â hardcover
