Books

D. Appleton & Co, 1871-01-01. First Edition. Hardcover. Good. 2 volume set. 1st American edition, first printing, 2nd issue. With list of errors in Vol. I placed in Vol. II as in London edition. Publisher's orange cloth. Hardcover. Pencil corrections to volume I to errors, otherwise pages are clean and unmarked. vi, 409; v, 436. + ad for the Origin of the Species in the rear and blank end pages. Blind stamp on fep. Good Hinges repaired. bindings. Vol. 1 spine edge has a restored frayed edge. Small chip missing from head of vol. 1 spine. "The book, in its first edition, contains two parts, the descent of man itself, and selection in relation to sex. The word 'evolution' occurs, for the first time in any of Darwin's works, on page 2 of the first volume of the first edition, that is to say before its appearance in the sixth edition of The Origin of Species in the following year. The last chapter is about sexual selection in relation to man, and it ends with the famous…

In 'The Descent of Man,' Charles Darwin applies evolutionary theory to human evolution, and details his theory of sexual selection.

Original first editions published by John Murray in 1871 can be identified by green cloth boards with gilt details on the spine and by the presence of advertisements at the end of the volume dated January 1871.