DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London: W. Clowes and Son for John Murray, 1861.

DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882). On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. London: W. Clowes and Son for John Murray, 1861.

Third edition of Darwin's Origin, with the first appearance of the complete historical sketch. The third edition 'was extensively altered, and is of interest for the addition of a table of differences between it and the second edition, a table which occurs in each subsequent edition, and also for the addition of the historical sketch... which was written to satisfy complaints that Darwin had not sufficiently considered his predecessors in the general theory of evolution... there is also a postscript on page xii... concern[ing] a review of the earlier editions by Asa Gray' (Freeman p. 78). Freeman 381.

Octavo (200 x 122mm). Half-title, folding lithographic diagram, 2-page Murray advertisement on 2A6 (occasional faint spotting mainly confined to first few leaves). Original green cloth by Edmonds and Remnants, Freeman's variant b, without the full point after MURRAY in imprint, boards blocked in blind with rules and elaborate foliate borders, spine gilt, brown endpapers (tiny abrasion marks on upper cover, lower corners lightly bumped). Provenance: Frederick du Cane Godman (bookplate).

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