The Foundations of the Origin of Species, A Sketch Written in 1842
- Publisher : Printed at the University Press
- Published In : Cambridge
- Illustrations : portrait frontis, 1 b/w plate
Description:
Very scarce. First unpublished edition, printed for presentation only to delegates to the Cambridge celebration of the centenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and of the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of his Origin of Species. 'When Francis Darwin put together Life and Letters he did not know that the sketch of his father's evolutionary ideas, which was written in 1842, had survived. The pencil manuscript was discovered in 1896, after the death of his mother, in a cupboard under the stairs at Down House.' (Freeman p. 182). Later the same year this was reprinted and published together with the sketch of 1844.
Freeman 1555.
Condition
8vo, orig. parchment-backed printed boards, lightly rubbed, edges uncut. Occasional light foxing. The presentation leaf has been neatly removed. Freeman states that this is the case in some copies which were perhaps available outside the presentation issue. Good.
