Lot 49•
DARWIN (CHARLES) On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, John Murray, 1859
4 December 2019, 11:00 GMT
London, KnightsbridgeSold for £150,062.50 inc. premium
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DARWIN (CHARLES)
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, half-title, folding lithographed diagram, 32-page publisher's catalogue dated June 1859 at end, a few light spots to first few leaves and diagram, publisher's blindstamped green cloth (Freeman variant b), lettered in gilt on spine, binder's label of Edmonds and Remnants at end, a little bumped at corners and spine ends, extremities lightly rubbed [Freeman 373; Garrison-Morton 220; Norman 593; PMM 344], 8vo, John Murray, 1859
Footnotes
FIRST EDITION OF "THE MOST IMPORTANT SINGLE WORK IN SCIENCE" and "a turning point... in the history of ideas in general" (Dibner, Heralds of Science, 199, and DSB).
Provenance: Sir Francis Henry Champneys, first baronet (1848-1930), ownership inscription in pencil on half-title ("Frank Champneys"). The obstetrician Francis Champneys was educated at Winchester College and at Brasenose College, Oxford, where he obtained a first class in natural science in 1870 and was captain of boats. In November 1871, he published an article on 'The Muscles and Nerves of a Chimpanzee', citing Darwin's just-published Descent of Man as one of his references (Journal of Anatomy, 1871, vol. 6 part 1, pp.176–211). Ten years later, Champney's 'Notes on an Infant' appeared in Mind, a direct response to "Mr Darwin's most interesting and accurate report of the unfolding of the senses, emotions, &c., in one of his own children" (Champney, vol. os-VI, no. 21, 1 January 1881, pp.104–107; Darwin, 'Biographical Sketch of an Infant', vol. os-2, no. 7, 1 July 1877, pp.285–294); UK private owner.
