On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection; In: Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Zoology. Vol. III, No. 9, read July 1st, 1858
London: Longman, Brown, 1858 [1859]. First Edition. Hardcover. 1st edition (the 1st printing anywhere) of the first announcement of, and reasoning behind, what is called Darwin’s theory of evolution. Contemporary 3/4 calf, some dark areas to the spine, joints rubbed, other light wear, still very good, sound, and complete. It’s scarce now and it will always be pursued. Refs: Printing and the Mind of Man, 344a (On the Origin of Species is PMM 344b). Freeman 346. Very good. Item #779
On the Origin of Species was near completion when Darwin saw a manuscript on species change by the naturalist Alfred Wallace. It read like an abstract of what Darwin was compiling so the 2 scientists agreed to share credit, and a fundamental wedge of Darwin’s work on natural selection and Wallace’s analogous paper were read before The Linnean Society on July 1, 1858, and published in 3 articles (2 by Darwin) in the Sep. issue of their journal with a Preface by Lyell and Hooker. 1. Extract from an unpublished Work on Species by C. Darwin, Esq. consisting of a portion of a chapter entitled, “On the Variation of Organic Beings in a State of Nature; on the Natural Means of Selection; on the Comparison of Domestic Races and true Species,” pages 46–50. 2. A letter from Darwin to Professor Asa Gray, (Sep. 5, 1857), pages 50–53, confirming an early date for Darwin’s insight. And 3. Wallace’s paper “On the Tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original Type, pages. 53–62, saying we will never be Homo Erectus again. Our book is the Linnean Society’s zoology annual. The 1st printing sheets were issued in 5 forms, 2 annual volumes (zoology and botany combined, and zoology alone), an offprint, and 2 in wrappers (one of them brought £315,000 off an estimate of £15,000–£20,000, at Christie’s on July 12, 2022, maybe a one time oddity but stay tuned). All 5 were from the same setting of type, all from a single printing using the same reserved paper stock, and all are scarce. And here is a reminder about natural selection: In an uninterfered with competition for landscape, between the gardener’s plants and the local weeds, the weeds always win.
Price:
$18,000.00