First Edition, First Issue of Darwin’s “Descent of Man”
Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. In two volumes.
London: John Murray, 1871.
Full Description:
DARWIN, Charles. The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. With illustrations. London: John Murray, 1871.
First edition, first issue, with “transmitted” appearing as the first word on p. 297 of Volume I, with printer’s imprint on the verso of the half-title of Volume II, and with twenty-five errata (seventeen for Volume I and eight for Volume II) on the verso of the title leaf to Volume II, and with the leaf (pp. [ix-x]) containing Darwin’s note on “a serious and unfortunate error” tipped in leaf after p. viii in Volume II. Two small octavo volumes (7 1/2 x 4 15/16 inches; 191 x 126 mm), Volume II is 5 mm shorter than volume I. viii, 423, [1, printer’s imprint], [16, publisher's ads]; viii,[ix-x, “Postscript”], 475, [1, printer’s imprint], [16, publisher's ads] pp. The 16 pages of publisher’s advertisements at the end of each volume are both dated January, 1871 . Wood-engraved text illustrations.
Original green cloth with covers stamped in blind and spines stamped and lettered in gilt. Black-coated endpapers. Head and tail of spines with some minor shelf-wear. Corners slightly bumped. Some very light rubbing to board edges. Some minor bubbling to cloth of front board of volume II. Front inner hinge of volume I with a mostly closed crack, holding firm. Previous owner's armorial bookplate on front pastedown of volume II. Some minor pencil markings to volume I, otherwise very clean inside. Overall an exceptional set.
The first issue, of 2,500 copies, was published on February 24, 1871, and the second, of 2,000 copies, in March. “The book, in its first edition, contains two parts, the descent of man itself, and selection in relation to sex. 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, that is to say before its appearance in the sixth edition of The Origin of Species in the following year. The last chapter is about sexual selection in relation to man, and it ends with the famous peroration about man’s lowly origin, the wording of which differs slightly in the first edition from that which is usually quoted” (Freeman, p. 129).
“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 extinct 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 Library). This title created almost as much sensation as his Origin of Species. In it he elaborated further on his views, adding sexual selection and using the word ‘evolution’ for the first time..
Milestones of Science 48. Freeman, Darwin, 937. Garrison-Morton 170. Norman Library 599.
HBS 69501.
$5,500.
Price: $5,500.00
Item #69501