DARWIN, Charles (1809–1882). The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1871.

The first edition, first issue—the first appearance of the word "evolution" in any of Darwin's works. From the library of amateur ornithologist George Dawson Rowley. The book, which “caused a furor second only to that raised by the Origin” (Norman), argues for the common origins of all mankind, placing humans in the evolutionary scheme Darwin had outlined for the rest of the animal kingdom in The Origin of Species. However, not all evolutionists shared this view—many, including Alfred Russel Wallace and Ernst Haeckel, argued for multiple origins of different human species. Science writer Richard Dawkins has noted that Darwin's supposition that the human species arose in Africa was “typically ahead of its time,” and despite the strong social pressures to think otherwise, “he carefully considered and decisively rejected the idea ... that different human races should be regarded as separate species.”

The present copy is the first issue with a one-page inserted "Postscript" at the beginning of Vol II where Darwin confesses he has fallen into "a serious and unfortunate error" on pages 297-9 in the first volume and pages 161 and 237 in the second volume concerning sexual selection. This leaf does not appear in the second issue, as the offending passage, and several others detailed in the extensive errata, were corrected in the later printing. 2500 copies of the first issue were published on February 24, and 2000 copies of the second issue in March. Freeman 937, Garrison and Morton 170.

Two volumes, octavo (184 x 120mm). Illustrated with wood-engravings. 16 pp publisher's advertisements in both volumes; both dated January 1871. Original green cloth stamped in blind, spines gilt (slightest bubbling to cloth, as usual; lightly rubbed).

George Dawson Rowley, 1822-1878, amateur ornithologist (armorial bookplate, with February 1875 Post article reprinting the American satirical "Bible of the Future" tipped to flyleaf)