On the Origin of Species, By Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
London: John Murray, 1859. First edition. 8vo. (iii-x), 502, 28 pp, bound without the half title but with all the advertisement leaves barring the final two. Early 20th century green full morocco, spine with raised bands, twin gilt lettered red labels, marbled endpapers, bookplate of K.F. Russell to the front pastedown and with a long note in his hand on the flyleaf describing the volume's provenance. Folding table mounted on linen. Slight sunning to the spine, an attractive copy. The first printing of one of the most important books in the history of scientific thought. "Darwin not only drew an entirely new picture of the workings of organic nature; he revolutionised our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things... the theory of evolution became with Darwin an interpretation of nature and eventually a causal theory affecting every department of scientific research" (Printing and the Mind of Man 344). Kenneth Fitzpatrick Russell (1911-87) was an eminent Australian academic. He was made Chair of Anatomy and Medical History by the University of Melbourne in 1969 having previously been conferred with a DLitt by them - an exceptional award for a science graduate. In 1963 he published "British Anatomy 1525-1800: A Bibliography", a testament to his erudition and one of the standard works on the subject. Russell's handwritten note to the front of the volume states that he bought it in the bookshop Quaine's of Melbourne in 1935. He found the original covers in a parlous state with the spine and upper cover missing and the rear board torn in half, this damage clearly also accounting for the absence of the half title and the final advertisement leaves. Russell notes that he had the volume rebound thus by the binder Green, paying slightly more for the restoration work than he had done for the book itself. Freeman, 373 and pp. 75-77. With the misprint "speceies" on page 20 and the full whale-bear story to page 184. The first page of the advertisements is dated June 1859 as required. Item #51915
Price: £78,000.00