The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex (First Edition, Third Issue)

The book in which the word "evolution" appears for the very first time anywhere in Darwin's published writing, a landmark of both scientific and linguistic history.

Charles Darwin's Descent of Man extended the argument of his On the Origin of Species (1859) into territory he had deliberately avoided in that earlier work: a direct application of evolutionary theory to human beings themselves. Published on 24 February 1871, the book argued that humans had descended from earlier animal forms through the same processes of natural and sexual selection that governed the rest of the living world, a thesis whose implications for contemporary religious and social thought proved immediately and enormously controversial. The book's initial print run sold out within three weeks.

Among the many points of bibliographic and scientific interest this text carries, one stands out as genuinely celebrated: as Darwin's bibliographer R. B. Freeman himself noted, the word "evolution" appears on page 2 of the first volume: the very first occurrence of that now-fundamental term anywhere in the whole of Darwin's published output, predating even its later introduction into the sixth edition of the Origin of Species itself.

First edition, third issue ("Seventh Thousand," as stated on both title pages). 2 vols., octavo. Vol. I: viii, 423, 16 [advertisements]pp.; Vol. II: viii, 475, 16 [advertisements]pp. Original green cloth. Gilt titling to spines. Wood-engraved illustrations throughout, including 25 in Vol. I and 51 in Vol. II. Very good. Some wearing along spine edges and corners, corners slightly turned in. Hinges a little weakened. Contents have some sporadic markings throughout both volumes. Binders stamp for Edmonds & Remnants, London to rear pastedown of vol.I. Generally clean and bright throughout. A good set. 

Freeman 939.

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Catalogue Number: HH000774