Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$416.28 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Being a critical examination of Mr Darwin's work entitled "Origin and Variation of the Species" Those who question the extent of the scientific rebuttal of Darwin's Origin of the Species when his book was first published should read the work of British zoologist and physician Charles Robert Bree (1811-1886) While numerous scientists at that time have been acknowledged for opposing Darwin, Bree's name is rarely if ever mentioned. That's despite the fact that in 1860 within months of the publication of On the Origin of the Species, Bree produced a critical analysis of it in the form of a book titled Species not Transmutable. x, 256pp clean throughout. Inscribed to the title page 'J Murray Esq from the Author' Was he having a pop at John Murray for being Darwin's publisher? This volume id ex Colchester Library with a label to each pastedown but no stamos. Bree was active in the area being a physician to the Essex and Colchester Hospital, Joint editor with the Rev. F.O.Morris of the Naturalist and a Fellow of the Linnaen and Zoological Societies.
Seller: Wadard Books PBFA, Farningham, KENT, United Kingdom
Price: US$1601.08 + shipping
Description: The first issue of the second, definitive, edition of Darwin's first published book. Tenth Thousand. Crown 8vo. Original green cloth with blind-stamped ornamental design to front and rear panels. Lettered, ruled, and with ornaments in gilt to the spine. 32 pp. of publisher's advertisements dated "December, 1861" bound in at the rear (Freeman notes that the inserted adverts in this edition "may be as late as September 1868"). Illustrated with 11 black and white wood engravings and diagrams throughout the text. All edges untrimmed. A very good copy, the binding square and firm with minor abrasion, rubbing, and some nicking to spine tips and mild fraying to the outer hinges, the lower portions of the gilt ruling a little worn. Front inner hinge partially cracked, but holding. The contents, with a previous owner's bookplate to front pastedown, a faded ink signature to the front endpaper, small square of adhesive residue (c. 2 x 2.5 cm) visible to the lower edge of the rear pastedown (due to removal of the original binder's label) are otherwise clean with just a little light spotting to prelims and final leaves. Charles Darwin's first published book, now universally known as 'The Voyage of the Beagle', but not issued with that title until 1905, is, as Richard Freeman notes in his bibliography of the author, "undoubtedly the most often read and stands second only to 'On the Origin of Species' as the most often printed". Darwin's account of his travels aboard HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836 has an appropriately circuitous bibliographical history. It was first issued as the third volume (of three) of 'The narrative of the voyages of H. M. Ships Adventure and Beagle' (1839), edited by Robert Fitzroy, Captain of the Beagle; Darwin's volume, simply titled 'Journal and remarks, 1832-1836' was also reissued alone the same year. A second edition followed in 1845, as 'Journal or researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of H. M. S. Beagle round the world [.]'), but it is this 1860 edition, described by Freeman as the "Final definitive text", that became the template for the countless editions that followed. Darwin provided new preliminaries and a postscript (dated Feb. 1st, 1860) outlining changes and corrections made to the text. The work itself, a groundbreaking fusion of travel narrative and scientific fieldwork is, as Freeman notes,"an important travel book in its own right" as well as its significance "[in] relation to the background of [Darwin's] evolutionary ideas". The green cloth binding for the 1860 edition is notable for being identical to that of the first three editions of 'On the Origin of Species'. (Freeman 20). Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
Seller: LUCIUS BOOKS (ABA, ILAB, PBFA), York, United Kingdom
Price: US$2056.94 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: tenth thousand. xv,519pp. + 32pp. catalog (dated January 1863)pp. Octavo. Green cloth covered boards. Gilt title and decoration on spine. Blind stamped decoration to boards. Brown endpapers with bookbinders sticker (Edmonds & Remnant) on rear pastedown. Slight soiling to endpapers with subtle previous owners name to ffep. Cloth in good state. Boards show light bumping to corners and bow inwards slightly. 13 engravings in text. Slight foxing to preliminaries though generally text block is clean, bright and tight. A very nice copy. very good Freeman 20. Final definitive text with new preliminaries and a postscript on p. VII. First printing to be bound in the same style as the three editions of 'The Origin of the Species'. "The page height is nearly two centimetres greater than before and the wider margins give the whole book a much better appearance".
Seller: Aquila Books(Cameron Treleaven) ABAC, Calgary, AB, Canada
Price: US$2117.50 + shipping
Description: Second edition, tenth thousand; 8vo (20.5 x 13.5 cm); in-text illustrations, 32pp. of publisher's ads. to rear; publisher's blindstamped green cloth, gilt spine, extremities rubbed, occasional spotting, internal front hinge split but holding; xv, 519, [1], 32[ads.]pp. The definitive edition of Darwin's first published book, The Journal of Researches, containing the naturalist's last alterations to the text, including a new postscript dated 1st February 1860 bringing the work up to date. Better known today as The Voyage of the Beagle, it is 'undoubtedly the most often read and stands second only to On the origin of species as the most often printed' of Darwin's works, and is an 'important travel book in its own right and its relation to the background of his evolutionary ideas has often been stressed' (Freeman). Freeman 20.
Seller: Shapero Rare Books, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$2401.62 + shipping
Description: The final definitive text of Darwin's first published book, the second edition of his outstanding account of natural history exploration. This botanical and zoological travelogue describes the fieldwork that ultimately led to the publication of On the Origin of Species (1859). "His first published book is undoubtedly the most often read and stands second only to On the Origin of Species as the most often printed. It is an important travel book in its own right and its relation to the background of his evolutionary ideas has often been stressed" (Freeman). Darwin noted in his autobiography that "the voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career. As far as I can judge of myself I worked to the utmost during the voyage from the mere pleasure of investigation, and from my strong desire to add a few facts to the great mass of facts in natural science. But I was also ambitious to take a fair place among scientific men. The success of this my first literary child always tickles my vanity more than that of any other books.". This copy has been bound without the half-title. Freeman 20. Octavo (190 x 120 mm). Near-contemporary green half calf, spine and raised bands decorated in gilt, black morocco label lettered in gilt, green cloth sides, edges sprinkled red, green endpapers, blue silk bookmarker. Bookplate of one J. I. Burhill to front pastedown with their ownership inscription to front free endpaper, which has been superseded by a pasted-down ownership inscription of one G. E. Marks of Carmarthen. Extremities rubbed, touch of wear to corners, small mark to rear board, top edge toned, foxing to preliminary and end matter, otherwise contents bright and clean, a very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: xv, 519, 32 p. 21 cm. 11 b&w wood engravings and diagrams within text. Green cloth hardcover with blank impressing. Spine ends repaired. Corners bumped. Dents in tops of boards. Bookplate, ink signature, and small label on front pastedown and ink notation on rear. Hinges repaired internally. Initials across from title page and ink mark on margin of xiv. Darwin's first published book is also his most read and stands second only to "The Origin of Species" as the most printed. Usually referred to today as the "Voyage of the Beagle" it makes for interesting reading as a travel book as well as a scientifc text. Darwin actually spent as little time as possible on board the Beagle; he was miserably sea-sick and preferred extensive expeditions on land. Those excursions allowed him to describe the "savages" of South America, the Great Tortoises of the Galapagos, Australian convicts, and the cruelties of slavery. This printing is the final definitive text with the first appearance of the Postscript on p. vii dated February 1, 1860, in which Darwin corrects a few errors. This is also the first publishing in the green cloth binding in the same style as the first three John Murray editions of "On the Origin of Species." 32 pages of publisher's advertising at rear dated January 1860 show the variety of Murray's published works. Freeman 20. First printing of second edition. Tenth Thousand.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species. John Murray, London, 1860.
Price: US$6404.32 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Freeman 376. Fifth thousand. Green embossed cloth bumped at corners and spine ends and worn along edge of spine with split top rear. Slight adhesion of front free endpaper at top corner. Four leaves have become unsewn pages bi-(x). Overall an attractive and sound copy. Binders ticket -"Edmonds & Remnants."
Seller: Scarthin Books ABA, ILAB., Cromford, United Kingdom
Price: US$9286.26 + shipping
Description: Second edition, second issue, fifth thousand, 8vo, x, 502, 32 advertisement pp. Folding table. Original gilt titled green cloth, subtly recased, spine ends with some light rubbing, mild discolouration to the upper cover, held in a recent green cloth folding box. Freeman 376, variant a. First published the previous year. The first issue of the second edition also appeared in 1859; but for the the mention of "fifth thousand" on the title page the two issues are identical.
Seller: Bow Windows Bookshop (ABA, ILAB), Lewes, United Kingdom
Price: US$9500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Second edition, second issue (with "fifth thousand" on title page), one of only 3000 copies and yet the largest printing of any edition or issue in Darwin's lifetime, and the last English edition to contain the whale-bear story. Folding lithographed plate, 32pp. of publisher's advertisements at rear. Original publisher's green cloth, covers stamped in blind, gilt spine. About near fine, with just a touch of wear to spine ends, rear hinge faintly cracked but secure, binding slightly shaken at signatures in rear but sturdy overall, cloth bright and clean, interior with a bit of spotting but generally very clean and fresh, table at pp. 116-7 with a tear at fold. Overall, a superb copy in original cloth. Freeman 376. Darwin's On the Origin of Species is the basis for all of evolutionary biology. It includes evidence from Darwin's journey aboard the HMS Beagle, including data on the famous finches from the Galapagos Islands. First published in November 1859 with only 1,170 copies for sale, the book sold out in a single day. Just six weeks later, this second edition was printed, which contained many corrections and alterations. One of the biggest changes Darwin made was to a section on the hypothetical evolutionary relationship between whales and bears that had been misinterpreted by some and used to criticize the book and Darwin's theory. Darwin also made alterations to the book's conclusion to diffuse outrage from religious figures. He adds the sentence "I see no good reason why the views given in this volume should shock the religious views of anyone" and references a letter from author and clergyman Charles Kingsley, of The Water-Babies fame, in which Kingsley praises Darwin and says that his theory poses no threat to his personal religious beliefs. Additionally, in the final sentence of the book, Darwin incorporates a reference to "the Creator."
Seller: B & B Rare Books, Ltd., ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$10000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Second edition, second issue with "fifth thousand" listed on the title page. Bound in publisher's original green cloth decorated in blind and stamped in gilt. Very Good or better with light wear to cloth at extremities, corners softened. Free endsheets are replaces somewhat sympathetically, owner name in pencil to half-title page, pages toned with sporadic foxing, short split to the foot of two folds of the chart, a few light pencil markings and faint cigar smoke odor to pages. Small binder ticket to rear pastedown. An immensely influential work, considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology, in which Darwin postulates that species evolve over the course of generations through natural selection.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$10887.34 + shipping
Description: Second Edition, Fifth thousand, 8vo. ix [1] 502 pp. 32pp publisher's catalogue dated January,1860, folding diagram to face 171pp. Original wave-grain blind-stamp green cloth, gilt titles to spine, light brown end papers [front pastedown hinge split] with armorial Bookplate. First published the previous year.The second edition is not so named on title but simply labelled 'Fifth Thousand'; Freeman records that 3000 copies were printed following the 1250 copies of the first 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 376. Excellent Copy
Seller: HALEWOOD : ABA:ILAB : Booksellers :1867, PRESTON, United Kingdom
Price: US$11000.00 + shipping
Description: Rare second edition, second issue, in Freeman's binding variant "a" of Darwin's magnum opus. Freeman 376; Norman 594. Octavo, original publisher's green cloth. In excellent condition with the spine gilt bright, contemporary owner's signature to the title, marginalia on pages 72 and 132. A nice example. Darwin ârevolutionized 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 takenâ (PMM 344). âWithout question a watershed work in the history of modern life sciences, Darwinâs Origin elaborated a proposition that species slowly evolve from common ancestors through the mechanism of natural selection. As he himself expected, Darwinâs theory became, and continues to be in some circles, the object of intense controversyâ (American Philosophical Society). âThe five years [of Darwinâs voyage on the Beagle] were the most important event in Darwinâs intellectual life and in the history of biological science. Darwin sailed with no formal training. He returned a hard-headed man of science⦠The experiences of his five years in the Beagle, how he dealt with them, and what they led to, built up into a process of epoch-making importance in the history of thoughtâ (PMM). Darwin wrote in his diary that all 1250 copies of the first edition, published on November 24, were sold on the first day; however, more accurately, nearly all of the edition had been sold to the trade immediately, with the exception of personal copies set aside for Darwin and review copies.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$11047.45 + shipping
Description: Fifth Thousand [Second Edition] 8vo. publisher's dark green diagonal wave cloth hardback with decorative gilt to spine and blind-embossed decorative borders to boards. Binder's label (Edmonds & Remnants) to rear pastedown. ix, 502pp. plus 32pp. List of Mr. Murray's Works at rear. Fold out Diagram. Typed address label of Wheldon & Wesley Ltd. (Natural History Booksellers) to front pastedown. No other markings or inscriptions. A few small spots of foxing to diagram and facing page, some foxing to List of Works at end, and the occasional light spot elsewhere. Small closed tear to top edge of p.290. Light rubbing to spine edges, top and foot. Light wear to edges. Overall; A VERY GOOD COPY. (Shelf 4) ** Pictures available upon request, if not already displayed here.** Over 20,000 books in stock - come and browse. PayPal, credit and most debit cards welcome. Books posted worldwide. For any queries please contact us direct.
Seller: Chaucer Bookshop ABA ILAB, Canterbury, United Kingdom
Price: US$12040.12 + shipping
Description: 8vo., Fifth Thousand, [Second Edition, Second Issue], with folding diagram, neat contemporary signature in pencil at head of title, with second pencilled signature lower down, front free endpaper a little chafed at fore-edge, three or four small fox-spots each on half-title, title and diagram; original green cloth, boards elaborately blocked in blind, gilt back, , brown endpapers, uncut, expertly recased with original endpapers preserved, a remarkably bright, fresh copy in minimally restored publisher's binding. With 32pp publisher's catalogue (dated January, 1860) bound in at end, and the binder's ticket of Edmonds & Remnants on rear paste-down. The second edition, second issue is not so named on title but simply labelled 'Fifth Thousand'; Freeman records that 3000 copies were printed following the 1250 copies of the first edition. Although Darwin considered this edition a rapid revision to meet demand, his changes are much more than mere correction. 'The total number [of changes] in this edition is impressive enough. No chapter was untouched' (Peckham). The most famous alteration is the dilution of the whale bear passage on p.184, which Darwin later regretted although he never restored it. With the signed and ruled advertisements which Freeman considers the first issue. Freeman 113 variant a; Freeman F376.
Seller: Island Books, Thakeham, West Sussex, United Kingdom
Darwin, Charles. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. John Murray, London, 1860.
Price: US$15000.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Second edition, one of 3000 copies printed with 1860 date printed on the title page. The First Edition, First Printing has the 1859 date printed on the title page. A beautiful copy. The book is bound in the publisher's green cloth and is in excellent condition with slight wear to the edges. The binding is tight with NO cocking or leaning and the boards are crisp. The pages are clean with a nice previous owner name written to the inside front paste down. There is NO marks or bookplates in the book. A superb copy. We buy Charles Darwin First Editions.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Price: US$23625.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: "CERTAINLY THE MOST IMPORTANT BIOLOGICAL BOOK EVER WRITTEN" London: John Murray, 1860. "Fifth thousand" (second edition, second state). Octavo in 12s (7 3/4" x 4 15/16", 196mm x 125mm): a4 b1 B-X12 Y12(-Y12) 2B-C8 [$3 signed (1, 2 and 5 as "3")]. 272 leaves, pp. i-v (half-title, epigraphs, title, imprint, contents) vi-ix, [1] (instructions to the binder), 1 2-502, 21 22-32 (32pp. advertisements, dated January 1860). With one folding lithographed chart. Bound in the publisher's blocked green cloth. Spine gilt (binding variant b, with the vertical of the L of LONDON above the initial vertical of the N of JOHN (MURRAY). Brown-coated end-papers. Top edge of the text-block stained black. Bumps and some wear to the extremities. Splits to the text-block at F, G, N and U. F7 dog-eared. With early graphite marginalia, mostly in the initial parts of the book. Ink ownership signature of "Wain" to the front paste-down, with two ink-stamps of the Raven Club Ramsey below. Binder's ticket of Edmonds & Remnants to the rear paste-down. Altogether a solid copy, devoid of sunning. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) put a great many projects on hold to publish his magnum opus, the Origin of Species. Seeking to outline the mechanism of evolution by natural selection (often glossed as "survival of the fittest," which is catchy if incomplete), Darwin explains in remarkably approachable terms the results of his research based on travels and on analysis of specimens back in England. The response was electric, polarizing, vast. The initial print-run of 1,250 evaporated on the day (24 November 1859) of publication (Darwin recounts this in his diary, though see Freeman (the source of the epigraph above) on the difficulties of this) and soon the public clamored for more copies. This resulted in the second edition -- called the "fifth thousand" -- in two issues, one without the "thousand" notation and one, as the present item, with (there are also some copies with an 1859 date, not distinguished by a separate entry in Freeman) being published not two months later. The texts are identical. The Raven Club in Ramsey (Isle of Man) is a now-defunct Manx social club. Freeman 376.
Seller: Arader Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$71256.74 + shipping
Description: 8vo. IX, (1), 502, 32 pp. With half title, folding lithographed diagram and publisher's adverts at end dated June 1859. 20th century blue half morocco binding with cloth covers, gilt rules, marbled flyleaves. Top edge gilt. Almost unobtainly rare revised issue of the first edition, or rather the intermediary stage to the first issue of the second edition, called by Darwin himself "only a reprint [with] a few important corrections". Published in January 1860, this is the only known copy to retain the year "1859" on the title-page, the original two quotations opposite (while the second edition is usually marked by having three), and the 32 pages of ads at the end, dated "June 1859" (usually lacking in the second edition). Alterations between the first and second editions are minor, though it is notable that Darwin corrected the misprint "speceies" on page 20 and shortened the "whale-bear" story on page 184. - Immediately recognized as revolutionary and controversial, the "Origin's" small first edition of only 1250 copies sold out on the first day, and by the late autumn of 1859 the publisher Murray was asking Darwin to begin revising at once for a new edition. This was to become the second edition (never so called on the title-page), of which a few copies were printed that retain the date "1859". Freeman knows of only two, at Yale and the University of Southern California, LA, both of which, however, already have three instead of two quotations opposite the title: "The existence of such copies has long been known to the trade, although, from their extreme rarity, few booksellers can ever have seen one" (p. 77). Freeman clarifies that while there is "only one issue of the first edition" of the "Origin of Species", "the text being identical in all copies" (p. 75), it was "customary, for many years, for anyone offering a copy of the first edition to describe it as 'first edition, first issue'", and he admits that "the book-sellers were, in a purist sense, right; the new printing was from standing type of the first edition, although with a considerable number of resettings" (p. 77). By this standard, the present specimen is clearly one of the second edition. Yet Freeman, from his evidence, considered "the presence of two quotations only, from Whewell and Bacon, on the verso of the half-title leaf", to be "diagnostic" of the first edition. Unknown to Darwin's bibliographer, the present revised version sits between the first edition and the first issue of the second, exhibiting characteristic features of both. Only a tiny number of copies of this proto-first issue of the second edition can have been produced: it appears a unique variant of what has always been considered the "rara avis" of Darwin bibliography. - Lower and right edges untrimmed, a very short tear in the diagram's first fold; an old repaired tear to the gutter of the following leaf and some very light foxing to the margin of the preceding one. Otherwise an impeccable copy, bound in the mid-20th century for the American petroleum geologist Dr. Edgar Wesley Owen (1896-1981) with a posthumous exlibris ticket loosely inserted. - PMM 344. Dibner Heralds (1980) 199. Eimas Heirs 1724. Garrison/Morton (1991) 220. Grolier/Horblit, Science, 23b. Grolier, Medicine, 70B. Norman 593. Sparrow, Milestones 49. Waller 10786. Freeman p. 77 and cf. nos. 373 & 375.
Seller: Antiquariat INLIBRIS Gilhofer Nfg. GmbH, Vienna, A, Austria