Books

First edition. Darwin's research on fertilisation in plants was an offshoot of his work on evolution and natural selection. To demonstrate that genetic variation gave organisms an advantage in the struggle for survival, he performed experiments demonstrating that self-fertilization weakened plants in comparison with those that had been cross-fertilized. Despite its technical nature, the book proved popular; published on 10 November, all 1,500 copies had sold by the end of the year. Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, covers panelled in blind, brown coated endpapers. With 3-line errata slip facing p. viii. Diagram and 109 letterpress tables in the text. Extremities worn and bumped, rubbing at spine ends obscuring gilt and small split to cloth at tail, faint mark on front cover where label sometime removed, inner hinges tender, book block cracked after front free endpaper, contents clean bar the occasional smudge: a good copy. Freeman 1249.