Details
DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: William Clowes and Son for John Murray, 1871.
2 volumes, 8o (187 x 125 mm). Half-titles, 16-page publisher's advertisements dated January 1871 at end of each volume. Illustrations in text. Original green cloth, gilt-lettered on spine (light wear at extremities). Provenance: Charles Leaf (signatures on flyleaves, 1871) -- purchased from Howes Bookshop, Sussex, 6 August 1964.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with errata on verso of title in vol. II, verso of half-title in vol. II with printer's note, the tipped in "Prescription" leaf in vol. II and "transmitted" as the first word on p.297 in vol. I. Freeman records Darwin's own copy bearing a variant title in vol. I, dated 1870, apparently the only copy recorded thus.
The Descent of Man continues the principles first stated in The Origin of the Species, and is Darwin's first work to contain the word "evolution" (on page 2). He firmly places Homo sapiens in the scheme of natural selection, comparing human characteristics to those of apes and other animals. Freeman 937; Norman 599. FINE. (2)
2 volumes, 8o (187 x 125 mm). Half-titles, 16-page publisher's advertisements dated January 1871 at end of each volume. Illustrations in text. Original green cloth, gilt-lettered on spine (light wear at extremities). Provenance: Charles Leaf (signatures on flyleaves, 1871) -- purchased from Howes Bookshop, Sussex, 6 August 1964.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with errata on verso of title in vol. II, verso of half-title in vol. II with printer's note, the tipped in "Prescription" leaf in vol. II and "transmitted" as the first word on p.297 in vol. I. Freeman records Darwin's own copy bearing a variant title in vol. I, dated 1870, apparently the only copy recorded thus.
The Descent of Man continues the principles first stated in The Origin of the Species, and is Darwin's first work to contain the word "evolution" (on page 2). He firmly places Homo sapiens in the scheme of natural selection, comparing human characteristics to those of apes and other animals. Freeman 937; Norman 599. FINE. (2)