[DARWIN, CHARLES]. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1888.
SECOND EDITION, revised and augmented [twenty-second thousand]. In two volumes; cloth-bound; hardcover; octavo (19.5 x 12.5 cm); pp. xvii, [3], 507, [1], [1] ads; viii, [1] errata, 528, [1] ads. English text. Publisher's original green cloth covers; gilt titles and bands to spines; coated endpapers; half-titles; illustrated; rear index in double column. Printed by William Clowes and Sons. Condition: VERY GOOD. Bindings tight, secure and square. Covers well-preserved with two small nicks to the cloth and minor bumping to spine ends. Contents largely very clean. Previous owner name neatly inked to front endpapers. A handsome set.
Notes: This is the first issue of the "Library Edition", published uniformly with a two volume edition of "The Origin of Species" and the first edition of Darwin's "Life and Letters". The Descent of Man was the first work to use the word 'evolution', preceding its use in the sixth edition of Origin of Species by a year, and it expands upon the theories of selection and evolution proposed in Origin of Species. In Descent, Darwin puts forth a new theory of sexual selection, explaining how it differs from and works alongside natural selection. The work discusses how evolutionary processes apply to humankind, drawing in concepts from evolutionary psychology and ideas of differing characteristics of anthropologically defined races of people. It had huge implications for the history of humankind and was met with mixed responses from a society in which conservative religious beliefs could be at odds with scientific advancement, but it went on to become immensely popular. [Freeman 939, 940; Kohler 880].
