Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Poor
Description: Binding in poor condition.Very loose. Pages in good condition. A good book to rebind. Brown board with gold decor on cover. Spine is in poor shape, with no writing. Volume 1 only.
Seller: Garrett Herman, Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$795.01 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First American edition. Volume 1 only. Oririginal brown cloth with gilded decor to front board. Borads are well handled but otherwise holding well and firm. 351pp. Rare. 7 pages of prelims, original yellow endpapers darkened with offsetting. Small book label with the name 'John Hughes'.
Seller: Babushka Books & Framers, Isle of Wight, United Kingdom
Price: US$862.50 + shipping
Description: 7.25 x 4.5", gilt-dec embossed black cloth, 351pp, covers rubbed, extremities bumped and fraying, spine ends chipped, outer hinges near ends torn, horizontal tear on spine cover above title, hinges loose, ink name of former owner on front fly, small paper label inside front cover, scattered (but heavy) foxing, but still a usable and readable copy of VOLUME ONE ONLY. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION (with Harper's New Miscellany" in gilt at bottom of spine.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Price: US$1646.02 + shipping
Description: Primera edición americana. Magnífico ejemplar. En la primera hoja del vol. I, los editores dicen: "ADVERTISEMENT of the American Publishers. This work contains, in the form of a journal, a history of the Voyage of the Beagle, undertaken for scientific objects, and performed at the expense and under the direction of the British government. In his preface to the English edition, Mr. Darwin, the author, states that he compained the vessel at the request of her comander, Captain Fitz Roy, and with the special sanction of the Lords of the Admiralty. He published, after his return, a voluminous history of the expedition, setting forth in detail its scientific results. In this work he has given, besides a narrative of the voyage, a sketch of his observations in natural history and geology, presented in such a manner as to possess most interest and value for the general reader, referring those who look for scientific details to the larger publications. In its present form, it seems admirably adapted to the purpose of popular instruction and entertainment, and has therefore been included in the present series. H.&B. New-York, January, 1846". I: VII-351 páginas. II: V-6 a 324 páginas. 8, 4, páginas [catalogues]. Ilustraciones dentro de texto. Encuadernados en tela verde (mediados del siglo XX). Muy buen estado de conservación. Sin manchas ni puntos de óxido. Pequeñas anotaciones de número de orden en biblioteca, en ambas segundas hojas del volúmen I y II. 2 volúmenes. 17x11 cm. Freeman 16.
Seller: Llibreria Antiquària Delstres, Canet de Mar, BCN, Spain
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: Journal of Researches Into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S Beagle Round the World, Under the Command of Cap. Fitz Roy, R.N. By Charles Darwins, M.A., F.R.S., in Two Volumes, Harper & Brothers, Publishers, New York, 1846, original brown blind cloth, illustrated with few woodcuts in text, 7.5 x 5, 12mo. In fair condition. Spines are quite fragile with missing segments of cloth. Top compartment of volume I is entirely missing with paper board exposed. Middle section and bottom end band are missing on volume II. Moderate wear to extremities with scuffing and light rubbing to corners and edges. Modest soiling to surface of cloth. Gilt hand passing a torch decoration remains bright. Gilt work on spine remains bright as well. From Barrows Main St. Bookstore Rochester, NY stamped on flys. 57.30b written in old hand on the flys as well. Some soiling to end papers. Volume II has a doodle of an arched bridge in old hand along with a name on the second fly leaf. Interiors are lightly toned with scattered foxing. Some fingersoiling to the margins. Last page in volume one is ripped, does not affect text. A doodle of a horse is drawn on the second rear fly of volume one. Dried leaves on page 38-39 of volume two. Bindings remain intact. Fragile, but readable. Please see photos. First American edition of Darwins first and important book, first published in England in 1839. Though eclipsed in importance and fame by his later writings, most notably by On the Origin of Speices, 1859, it was the observations of his first voyage that were to reveal to Darwin the irrefutable evidence of the evolutionary theory he was to bring to the forefront of scientific consciousness.
Seller: ROBIN RARE BOOKS at the Midtown Scholar, Harrisburg, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$2800.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Two volumes; small octavo (175 mm.). [6, blank], vii, [1, blank], 351, [7, blank]; [4, blank], 323, [12, ads] pages. Publisher's brown cloth, boards decoratively ruled in blind, front boards with gilt central "passing the torch" motif, rear boards with this motif in blind, spines lettered in gilt. Untrimmed copy showing light wear and aging. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION of Darwins first published book and his own account of the Beagles voyage which describes his observations that ultimately laid the foundation to the publication of his major scientific work On the Origin of Species. "The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career.I have always felt that I owe to the voyage the first real training or education of my mind; I was led to attend closely to several branches of natural history, and thus my powers of observation were improved" (Life and Letters, 1:61). Darwins Century 81 ("the rare first American edition"); Freeman 16; Sabin 18647.
Seller: Rodger Friedman Rare Book Studio, ABAA, Tuxedo, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$4011.25 + shipping
Description: "The natural history of these islands is eminently curious, and well deserves attention. Most of the organic productions are aboriginal creations, found nowhere else; there is even a difference between the inhabitants of the different islands; yet all show a marked relationship of America, though separated from that continent by a open space of ocean between 500 and 600 miles in width. The archipelago is a little world within itself, or, rather, a satellite attached to America, whence it has derived a few stray colonists, and has received the general character of its indigenous productions. Considering the small size of these islands, we feel The more astonished at the number of their aboriginal beings, and at their confined range. Seeing every height crowned with its crater, and the boundaries of most of the lava-streams still distinct, we are led to believe that within a period geologically recent the unbroken ocean was here spread out. Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat near to that great fact â" that mystery of mysteries â" the first appearance of new beings on this earth"------Charles DarwinJournal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle round the World, under the Command of Capt. FitzRoy, R.N., Harper & Brothers, 1846, first American edition, 2 volumes, some wear to the fore edge corner tips and spine extremities of both volumes exhibiting some cloth loss, some ROHRSCHACH type stains to the original yellow end-papers and paste-downs, the first five textual leaves in volume one exhibit an old moisture tidal mark at the base and lower area of the gutters, foxing throughout the text block of both volumes, volume two shows wear and missing cloth along the outer front hinge, else good copies of this most important and pioneering volume. Indeed Darwin's first book.
Seller: THE FINE BOOKS COMPANY / A.B.A.A / 1979, ROCHESTER, MI, U.S.A.
Price: US$7140.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: THE LIPMAN COPY. First American edition of Darwin's first book. Two volumes. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1846. Duodecimo in 6s (7" x 4 3/8", 178mm x 113mm). [Full collation available.] Bound in the publisher's black ribbed cloth. "Passing the torch" gilt to the front board, blind to the rear. On the spine, 5 panels. Author, title ("Voyage/ of a/ Naturalist.") and number gilt to the second panel. Series ("Harper's/ New/ Miscellany.") gilt to the tail (nos. X and XI). Fore- and lower edges untrimmed. Some bumping to the extremities, particularly the tail-pieces. Discreet repairs to the heads and tails. Quite foxed throughout, as usual. Ownership stamp of the Dublin Public Library to the top-edge of the text-blocks. By-laws of the Dublin Juvenile & Social Library (completed in ink as nos. 345 and 346) to the front paste-down of each volume. Ink ownership signature of the "Dublin Union Library/ 1846" to the recto of the front free end-paper of each volume (again in graphite on the recto of the second binder's blank of vol. 2). Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was a lad of 22 when he set off as a supernumerary gentleman-naturalist aboard HMS Beagle under the command of Robert FitzRoy on 27 December 1831. He defied his father's wishes in going, receiving financial sponsorship from his cousin Josiah Wedgwood II (pioneer of bone china). The trip brought Darwin through the Southern Hemisphere over the course of nearly five years; he began on the coasts of South America, visited the Galapagos Islands and sailed west through New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and finally Brazil again before returning to Britain. The voyage of Beagle (her second) was the great formative experience of Darwin's youth. In his Life and Letters (I.61) he wrote: "The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career." Though initially minded toward geology, the variety among species from island to island in the Galapagos chain -- finches first demonstrated the pattern -- captured the young naturalist's attention; this is the true beginning of Darwin's articulation of his theories of evolution by natural selection. The set entered the library in Dublin, New Hampshire -- the Juvenile Library was the first free public library in America -- in the year of publication. The Social Library was established as early as 1793, and the merger of the two libraries as the Union Library in 1835. Purchased from the sale of Barbara and Ira Lipman (Sotheby's New York 16 December 2020, lot 183). Mr. Lipman (1940-2019) founded and ran one of the largest private security firms, and together he with Mrs. Lipman (1933-2020) assembled a great library of Americana; a Sotheby's sale of their books in 2013 included eight volumes from the library of George Washington. The 2020 sale included four other rare Darwin titles, including a first edition of the Origin ($151,200). Freeman F16; Sabin 18647.
Seller: Arader Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.