[DARWIN, CHARLES]. The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex. London: John Murray, 1890.
SECOND EDITION, revised and augmented [twenty-seventh thousand]. Cloth-bound; hardcover; octavo (19.5 x 13 x 3.5 cm); pp. xvi, 693. Publisher's original green embossed cloth covers; gilt titles and decoration to spine; patterned endpapers; half-title; illustrated; rear index in double column. Printed by William Clowes. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight, secure and square, the covers very well preserved, minor bumping to spine ends. Contents largely very clean, previous owner details neatly inked to half-title page. A handsome copy.
Notes: Second edition of Darwin's second major work following the publication of Origin of the Species in 1859. 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. This volume discusses how evolutionary processes apply to humankind, drawing in concepts from evolutionary psychology and ideas of differing characteristics of anthropologically defined races of people. This work 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].
