Charles Darwin, 1872

DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. London: John Murray, 1872.

Utilitarianism and evolution: a Darwin first edition from the library of John Stuart Mill, with the bookplate of Mill's estate sale in Avignon. Darwin and Mill were the two most profoundly influential English thinkers of their time and greatly admired each other, although somehow they never met. Darwin cited Mill three times in Descent of Man. In a revised edition of System of Logic, John Stuart Mill referred to Darwin's theory of descent as an "unimpeachable example of a legitimate hypothesis." Moreover, a mutual friend had told Darwin of Mill's private opinion of the Origin of Species shortly after publication: "I am sure you will be pleased to hear from such an authority that [Mill] considers that your reasoning throughout is in the most exact accordance with the strict principles of Logic. He also says, the Method of investigation you have followed is the only one proper to such a subject" (Henry Fawcett, 16 July [1860], Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 2868,” accessed on 19 July 2023). On February 1871, Darwin asked another friend if he had Mill's address, but no correspondence between the two survives. Mill died in May 1873 in Avignon, where he had lived off and on since 1858. His family retained his books and papers there (including important manuscripts) until 1905 when they were sold by a local bookseller.

The critical target of Darwin's present work was Charles Bell's pious Anatomy and Physiology of Expression, Darwin's key point is that man's facial muscles evolved from the faces of monkeys, and are not divinely created as a unique means of self-expression. First edition, second issue. Freeman 1142.

Octavo (187 x 120mm). Illustrated with seven heliotype plates, three of which are folding; plus numerous text illustrations (one folding plate creased at outer edge; few light spots to title and on versos of plates). Four ad pages at end dated November 1872. Original green cloth stamped in blind, spine gilt-lettered (upper hinge cracked, text block cracked in a couple of places, a little wear to tips). Provenance: John Stuart Mill, philosopher and economist, 1806-1873 (bookplate from his estate sale, Avignon, 21-28 May 1905) – four pages with pencil notes – Dr. Sydney Ross, Troy, NY (bookplate).