Darwin

1877 · rif. 14434 — London and New York: Macmillan and Co. 1877. FIRST EDITION. Half-calf and marbled boards; an excellent copy with the bookplate of Charles Edward Fewster of Hull. First printing of Darwin’s original paper discussing sexual selection in his 1871 work Descent of man stating that the case of the “brightly-coloured hinder ends and adjoining parts of certain monkeys” was the most interesting and perplexing to him. He quotes a work by Johan von Fischer partly published in Der zool. Garten. April 1876 dealing with the expression of monkeys under various emotions “which is well worthy of study by any one interested in the subject.” An interesting article on an interesting subject. Also included in this volume are two reviews of Darwin books as follows: 1 Review of the second edition of Geological observations on the volcanic islands and parts of South America London Smith Elder and Co. 1876 by John W. Judd. pp. 289-290; and 2 Review of The effects of cross- and self-fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom London Murray 1876 by W. T. Thiselton Dyer pp. 329-332. In addition there are two testimonials to Darwin. The first p. 356 is a testimonial on Darwin’s sixty-ninth birthday a mistake in that he was sixty-eight in February 1877 from a group of 154 men of science of Germany presenting to him an album of their photographs. Darwin also received an album with the photographs of 217 distinguished professors and lovers of science from Holland. The second testimonial pp. 410-412 comes from Prof. P. Harting of Utrecht University also on the occasion of Darwin’s birthday who has sent a letter along with the photograph album referred to above from the Directors of the Netherlands Zoological Society and includes Darwin’s reply. The volume includes articles by many of the most important scientists of the day. Freeman 1773; Freeman 1776. Macmillan and Co. unknown