On the Origin of Species
Murray, 1860.
Second edition, second issue as usual, dated 1860. Original publisher's green cloth, titled in gilt to the spine with blind stamped decoration to the covers, brown coated endpapers. 32pp of adverts dated January 1860. Single fold-out diagram. A near fine copy, clean and bright with just trivial wear to the spine ends and a light vertical crease. Internally fresh, hinges tight with a stain around the top of the hinges. Minor loosening between sections G and H, otherwise tight. A very well preserved copy.
Almost universally regarded as the most important scientific book of the nineteenth century.
"Darwin not only drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionised 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).
For the second edition, "The misprint 'speceies' is corrected and the whale-bear story diluted, an alteration which Darwin later regretted, although he never restored the full text" (Freeman).
Freeman 374, PMM 344b (first edition).
Stock ID: 41668
£8,500.00
