Darwin, Charles

In 12s. Folding lithographed diagram, 32 pages of publisher's ads bound at end; faint scattered spotting through chapter IV and to catalog, else clean. Publisher's blind-panelled green, grained cloth, spine gilt; recased, a few minor repairs to short tears with spot recoloring to spine ends, but withal a bright and attractive copy. Custom cloth case reproducing the binding.

Dibner 199; Freeman 373; Grolier, Science 23b; Grolier, Medicine 70b; Norman 593; Printing and the Mind of Man 344b

see cataloguing
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

First edition of "the most influential scientific work of the nineteenth century" and "the most important biological work ever written" (Horblit, Freeman). Darwin had assimilated the researches and observations from his five years as naturalist aboard the survey ship H.M.S. Beagle into the essential formulation of his theory of natural selection more than two decades before Origin of Species appeared, but he may not have published his revolutionary theory during his lifetime had not Alfred R. Wallace independently come to a nearly identical conclusion about the transmutation of species. After the Linnean Society read and published jointly Darwin and Wallace's preliminary expositions of the theory of evolution, Darwin rushed to prepare for publication an epitome of the “big species book” that he had been working on since 1856. (Darwin’s first suggestion for a title, An Abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties, was rejected by his publisher as too tentative).

Bern Dibner’s Heralds of Science describes On the Origin of Species as “the most important single work in science.” The entire text is essentially an introduction to, and amplification of, the iconoclastic thesis that Darwin abstracts at the beginning of chapter 4: “many more individuals are born than can possibly survive … [I]ndividuals having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving and procreating their kind … [A]ny variation in the least degree injurious would be rigidly destroyed. This preservation of favourable variations and the rejection of injurious variations, I call Natural Selection.” Origin of Species caused an immediate sensation. Of the first edition of 1,250 copies, fifty-eight were distributed by Murray for review, promotion, and presentation, and Darwin reported that the balance was sold out on the first day of publication.

20% of the proceeds from this sale will be donated to Elephant Care International.