Books

First edition, second issue. London: John Murray, 1872. Octavo (7 3/8" x 4 15/16", 188mm x 126mm). With 7 heliotype plates, of which 3 are folding. Bound in the publisher's green cloth. Spine gilt. Black-coated end-papers. Rubbed at the extremities, with small patches of wear. Bumped and cocked. Splits to the text-block at quires K, L and M. Split to the fold and some creases to pl. 6. Z2.3 unopened. A very good copy. Although Darwin's (1809-1882) magnum opus was the Origin of Species (1859), which sought to explain the mechanism of evolution of all species by natural selection, his reading public clamored for studied of humans. Indeed, the Origin was long mis-interpreted as implying that Homo sapiens was the terminus of all evolution. The Descent of Man (1871) sought specifically to satisfy this burning interest, and the present work addresses a particular red herring: that humans developed physical structures (muscles, eyebrows etc.) specifically for the expression of emotions. Darwin, though not a specialist in this particular field (he relies heavily on the work of Sir Charles Bell in particular), dispels the notion that there are muscles of expression; facial expressions in particular are common to a great many species and to many situations other than the display of emotion. The second issue of the work is distinguished by a few authorial corrections and additions, hastily made (since the first issue was published in November, and almost immediately sold out its run of 5,000 copies). Although Duchenne de Boulogne had pioneered the use of photography for the study of emotional expression (M�canisme de la physionomie humaine, Paris: 1862), Darwin here employs it to fine effect. The plates are heliotypes, a variant of the collotype. The first (and one of the most delicate) method of commercial photographic dissemination, a glass plate was treated with light-sensitive gelatin, which would harden where exposed; the unexposed parts could be washed away, leaving dark channels in which ink would collect. The gelatin itself -- naturally quite friable -- could be used to print, but only for a few hundred impressions at most. Freeman 1142.

In this seminal work, Charles Darwin examines the genetic similarities among humans and animals, providing insights into the biological origins of their emotions.