On the origin of species
“One of the most important events to occur in the last hundred and ten years was the publication of Charles Darwin’s on the Origin of Species” (John Angus Campbell).
The fourth edition of “the most important biological book ever written”.
A nice copy, kept in its original publisher’s cloth.
In-8 de XXI et 593 pp., 32 pp.
Percaline verte de l’éditeur, filets à froid encadrant les plats, dos lisse, titre doré.
Reliure de l’époque.
198 x 125 mm.
Darwin, Charles. On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life.
London, John Murray, 1866.
Fourth edition “most revised” (Freeman) of "the most important biological book ever written".
Freeman, 385.
" The fourth edition of 1866 was of 1,500 copies. It was extensively altered, and it is in this one that the date of the first edition, as given on the verso of the half title, is corrected from October 1st to November 24th. There are two minor variations; the earlier has the inserted advertisements dated January 1865 and the later dated April 1867 " (Freeman).
Our copy is an early issue with the adverts dated January 1865.
“The Origin was important not only for the new fields of research which it opened in the natural sciences, but for the marked influence which it had on such diverse fields as sociology, economics, philosophy, anthropology and theology. The advent of Darwin’s book has justly been compared in its epoch-making significance with the French Revolution and the American Civil War. On the Origin of Species brought to an end an entire Anglo-American tradition in the relationship between science and religion and saw the birth of radically altered views of the proper relationship between man, the physical universe and God”
(John Angus Campbell).
Perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of scientific imagination, The Origin of Species sold out on the day it was published in 1859. Theologians quickly labeled Charles Darwin the most dangerous man in England, and, as the Saturday Review noted, the uproar over the book quickly "passed beyond the bounds of the study and lecture-room into the drawing-room and the public street." Yet, after reading it, Darwin's friend and colleague T. H. Huxley had a different reaction: "How extremely stupid not to have thought of that."
“The outstanding difficulty was to discover the means by which the infinite variety of living organisms could have been produced within the limits of geological time. In accomplishing this Darwin not only drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things” (PMM).
Séduisant exemplaire conserve dans sa reliure d’origine, tel que paru.
Provenance : bibliothèque John William Pease avec ex-libris et ex-libris manuscrit sur le faux-titre Walter Pease daté du 4 avril 1867.
