On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life -
Charles Darwin
1861 - John Murray, London - Third Edition, with additions and corrections (seventh thousand)
‘It is now fully recognized that the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species brought about a revolution in man’s attitude toward life and his own place in the universe. This work is rightly regarded as one of the most important books ever published, and a knowledge of it should be part of the intellectual equipment of every educated person. The book remains surprisingly modern in its assertions and is also remarkably accessible to the layman, much more so than recent treatises necessarily encumbered with technical language and professional jargon’. - Harvard University Press.
Printed in the same format and cloth as the first edition, one of 2,000 issued in April 1861. This is the first edition to include the author's expanded historical sketch written to satisfy complaints that he had not sufficiently considered his predecessors in the general theory of evolution. It also provides a table detailing ‘additions and corrections to the second and third editions.’
A superior and thus scarce example in the original decorated green cloth without restoration or repair, folding diagram opposite page 123.
In Origin of Species 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. Provenance: Contemporary pencil signature dated 1862 to front free endpaper, Small contemporary booksellers label of J. G. Hankin, St. Ives to front pastedown, small bookbinders label of Edmonds & Remnants, London to rear pastedown of
References: Printing and the Mind of Man 344b. Freeman, 381, binding variant a (full stop after Murray at foot of spine, no priority).
Octavo (book size 20.7x13.8), pp. xix [1] 538 [2 (publisher’s catalogue)]. In publisher’s green embossed cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, boards decorated in blind, light brown coated endpapers. Condition: Fine but for light rubbing to corners and spine ends, inner hinges starting but strong, faint foxing to first and last page and foredge. Ref: 112414 Price: HK$ 52,000
Printed in the same format and cloth as the first edition, one of 2,000 issued in April 1861. This is the first edition to include the author's expanded historical sketch written to satisfy complaints that he had not sufficiently considered his predecessors in the general theory of evolution. It also provides a table detailing ‘additions and corrections to the second and third editions.’
A superior and thus scarce example in the original decorated green cloth without restoration or repair, folding diagram opposite page 123.
In Origin of Species 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. Provenance: Contemporary pencil signature dated 1862 to front free endpaper, Small contemporary booksellers label of J. G. Hankin, St. Ives to front pastedown, small bookbinders label of Edmonds & Remnants, London to rear pastedown of
References: Printing and the Mind of Man 344b. Freeman, 381, binding variant a (full stop after Murray at foot of spine, no priority).
Octavo (book size 20.7x13.8), pp. xix [1] 538 [2 (publisher’s catalogue)]. In publisher’s green embossed cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, boards decorated in blind, light brown coated endpapers. Condition: Fine but for light rubbing to corners and spine ends, inner hinges starting but strong, faint foxing to first and last page and foredge. Ref: 112414 Price: HK$ 52,000