Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$214.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A virtually pristine example of one of Darwin's scarcer titles. 8vo: xvi,300,[8]pp, with 38 text woodcuts. Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, upper cover stamped in black and lower cover in blind with edge roll and trailing vine device, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, cream colored end papers. Top edge dust-soiled, pages very lightly toned, but a spectacular, unread survival. Freeman 802. Second Edition, revised, from the stereotypes of the second London edition. (But effectively the first American edition, since no first edition was issued in the United States.) According to Asa Gray, the most important nineteen-century American botanist, "If the Orchid-book (with a few trifling omissions) had appeared before the 'Origin,' the author would have been canonised rather than anathematised by the natural theologians," and he notes that a review in the Literary Churchman found only one fault, "that Mr. Darwin's expression of admiration at the contrivances in orchids is too indirect a way of saying, 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works.'" Darwin himself wrote to John Murray on September 24th, 1861, "I think this little volume will do good to the "Origin", as it will show that I have worked hard at details." Orchids "was concerned with working out in detail the relationships between sexual structures of orchids and the insects which fertilise them, their evolution being attributed to natural selection. It is therefore the first of the volumes of supporting evidence. It was much praised by botanists, but sold only about 6,000 copies before the turn of the century." (Freeman) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).
Seller: Fine Editions Ltd, Lancaster, PA, U.S.A.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: BOOK DESCRIPTION: Green cloth boards. vii, 328pp, index: F1377 [with corrections by Francis Darwin] The Formation of Vegetable Mould Through the Action of Worms, was Darwin's last published book and dealt with an unusual subject. It is interesting that so many copies were printed during its 1st year. The 5th thousand was issued before the end of 1881,so it appears that this book sold even faster than The Origin of Species itself! The final text appeared in 1882. CONDITION: VERY GOOD+: Covers are fairly clean and glit very bright - some minor staining and loss to gilt on tail of spine. Minor wear to corners but head and tail of the spine have very little rubbing. Binding tight and secure. Original endpapers are intact, just starting to crack at the front hinge. Very little foxing. Previous names in pencil (see photo). No notes. A very presentable copy of Darwin's last published book.
Seller: A Turn of the Page Books, Fishers, IN, U.S.A.
Charles Darwin. The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species. John Murray, 1892.
Price: US$375.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: This is an early copy of "The Different Forms of Flowers on Plants of the Same Species" by CHARLES DARWIN. 1892 fourth thousand (stated); John Murray; London. There are several illustrations and tables, and an Index at the back. The chapters are as follows: Heterostyled Dimorphic Plants - Primulaceae; Hybrid Primulas; Heterostyled Trimorphic Plants; Illegitimate Offspring of Heterostyled Plants; Concluding Remarks on Heterostyled Plants; Polygamous, Dioecious, and Gyno-Dioecious Plants; Cleistogamic Flowers. Condition: Clean covers and spine; bright gilt lettering and decorations on the spine; sharp corners. There is an insignificant crack at the front hinge between the end paper and title page (despite the crack, the front cover is still firmly attached and is not shaky). Nice interior with only some light foxing to a few pages at the front, and an occasional light smudge to a few random pages. There is an old name written lightly in pencil on the title page. Overall the book is in Very Good condition.
Seller: CraigsClassics, Hudson, NH, U.S.A.
Price: US$481.22 + shipping
Description: Sixth edition 1892 with additions and corrections (forty-third thousand) and an added Glossary by W. S. Dallas at rear. 8vo, 195 x 125 mm, 7½ x 4½ inches, folding chart, pages: xxi, 1-432 including index, original publisher's green cloth, gilt lettering and decoration to spine, blind-stamped decorative borders to covers, original patterned endpapers, edges untrimmed as issued, no inscriptions. Binding slightly rubbed with a few tiny white marks, inner paper hinge partially cracked, pale browning to endpapers, minor fox spots to folding plate, slight shelf wear to lower edges, otherwise contents clean and bright, binding tight and firm. A very good copy. See R. B. Freeman, The Works of Charles Darwin, page 79-81 and page 86 No. 439. This is a reprint of the edition of 1876 which contained the final text as Darwin left it which contained small differences in text from the edition of 1872. The word 'evolution' was used for the first time in the 6th edition of 1872. Darwin had used it before in the first edition of the Descent of Man in the previous year but it doesn't appear in On Origin of Species until 1872. The title changed to The Origin of Species in the edition of 1872 and a Glossary was added by W. S. Dallas. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.
Seller: Roger Middleton P.B.F.A., Oxford, United Kingdom
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First published in 1868, this book began as an expansion of the first two chapters of On the Origin of Species (1859): "Variation under Domestication" and "Variation under Nature," and it developed into one of his largest works; Darwin (1809-82) referred to it as his "big book." The first volume deals with the variations introduced into species as a result of domestication, through changes in climate, diet, breeding, and an absence of predators. He began with an examination of dogs and cats, comparing them with their wild counterparts, and moved on to investigate horses and asses; pigs, cattle, sheep, and goats; domestic rabbits; domestic pigeons; fowl; and finally cultivated plants. The work is a masterpiece of nineteenth-century scientific investigation, and a key text in the development of Darwin's own thought and of the wider discipline of evolutionary biology. Octavo, two volumes: xiv, 473 p. + x, 495 p. with publisher's advertisements, 43 textual figures, and numerous tables. Original brown cloth bindings, with gilt titles and decorative black and blind stamping. The boards are especially clean and bright, with only some light wear to the corners and tips. Quite lovely, uncommon thus. Second Edition, Revised - Fourth Thousand.
Seller: johnson rare books & archives, ABAA, Covina, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$605.00 + shipping
Description: An early reprinting of the first edition of 1872, the eleventh thousand. Well decorated with 21 illustrations throughout the text and with 7 Heliotype Plates from photographs. 8vo, publisher's original dark green cloth lettered, decorated and ruled in gilt on spine and with ornately framed borders on the upper cover and on the lower cover in blind. viii, 394 pp. A beautifully preserved copy, internally fine, the binding very bright and clean and very solid and sturdy with the hinges in good order, the colour holding strong with no hint of fading, a small chip to the free-fly and a few spots to the pastedowns. A HANDSOME COPY, FRESH AND FINE AND UNUSUALLY SO, FOR ANY 19TH CENTURY PRINTING OF DARWIN. This is an important volume of Darwin's evolutionary writings, and was written, in part at least, as a confutation of the idea that the facial muscles of expression in man were a special endowment. It was, more importantly, along with his 1871 book The Descent of Man, part of Darwin's attempt to address questions of human origins and human psychology using his theory of evolution by natural selection. Darwin noted the universal nature of facial expressions in the book: ".the young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements."
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$930.37 + shipping
Description: a couple of faint spots to half-title and to final page of Index, pp. xxi, 432, 8vo, original dark green cloth, blind blocked borders on sides, backstrip gilt lettered, gently rubbed at extremities, trivial wear at bottom corners, the textblock edges very faintly spotted, free endpapers a little browned, very good. An excellent copy, of the 'final definitive text'. (Freeman 439)
Seller: Blackwell's Rare Books ABA ILAB BA, Oxford, United Kingdom
Price: US$936.76 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: The sixth edition, with additions and corrections, the forty-third thousand. A clean unmarked copy in the publisher's cloth, with some light rubbing to the binding, the end papers are toned, internally near fine, the binding is tight. A very good copy overall, and scarce in this condition.
Seller: Temple Bar Bookshop, Dublin, DUB, Ireland
Darwin, Charles. THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. John Murray, London, 1892.
Price: US$1500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Sixth edition ("forty-third thousand") overall - and the first to use the term "evolution" to describe the mechanism of natural selection that Darwin introduced in the book. "Evolution" - the word now most associated with THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES - did not appear in the publication until the sixth edition. By then, Darwin was well aware that he had a phenomenon on his hands with the title - it was time to widen his audience. The 6th edition was purposefully set in smaller type, slimming the book's profile and making it more affordable ("I have been told on authority which I can trust that [.] workmen club together to buy the Origin," Darwin noted of previous editions in correspondence in 1871). It also contains a glossary for the first time, making the text more accessible to a non-specialist audience. Appropriately, this copy was once owned by James G. Mead, whale biologist and longtime curator of marine mammals at the Smithsonian. Mead is a particular proponent of the anatomical study of marine mammals, a method of examination that Darwin also favored; THE NEW YORK TIMES notes that Mead's use of this technique "has given scientists a detailed look at species that often can be observed only fleetingly in the wild." A notable edition of an iconic work. 7.5'' x 5''. Publisher's green cloth boards with gilt spine lettering. Floral patterned endpapers of the John Murray monogram. xxii, 432 pages, including index; folds from page 185 on are unopened. Small owner name to front flyleaf "J. G. Mead," dated Feb. 1972. Small owner name to title page "Jas Probert," dated July 1893. Binding with faint spotting to edges, light bumping to corners and spine ends. Light foxing to endpapers. Interior clean.
Seller: Type Punch Matrix, Silver Spring, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$2750.00 + shipping
Description: Sixth edition, one of 2,000 copies of "certainly the most important biological book ever written" (Freeman). Octavo, bound in original cloth, gilt titles to the spine. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom full morocco clamshell box. A nice presentation. 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).
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.