DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882)

Lot 143
13.07.2022 10:30UTC +00:00
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ID 794586
Lot 143 | DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882)
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£ 4 000 – 6 000
DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882)

The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871.

First edition, first issue—the first appearance of the word ‘evolution’ in any of Darwin's works. Darwin's Descent of Man ‘caused a furor second only to that raised by the Origin’ (Norman). It argues for the common origins of all mankind, placing humans in the evolutionary scheme Darwin had outlined for the rest of the animal kingdom in On the Origin of Species. However, not all evolutionists shared this view — many, including Alfred Russel Wallace and Ernst Haeckel, argued for multiple origins of different human species. Science writer Richard Dawkins has noted that Darwin's supposition that the human species arose in Africa was ‘typically ahead of its time,’ and despite the strong social pressures to think otherwise, ‘he carefully considered and decisively rejected the idea ... that different human races should be regarded as separate species.’ Freeman 937; Garrison & Morton 170; Norman 599.



Two volumes, octavo (190 x 125 mm). Half-titles, numerous illustrations in text, 16 pp. ads at end of both vols dated January 1871 (half-titles and ads lightly spotted in both vols). Original green publisher's cloth, uncut (index in vol. II mostly unopened, hinges cracked in vol. I). Provenance: William Menelaus (1818-1882, works manager at the Dowlais Ironworks in South Wales; booklabel).





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