[DARWIN, CHARLES; DARWIN, FRANCIS (editor)]. The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Including an Autobiographical Chapter. London: John Murray, 1887.
FIRST EDITION, FIRST PRINTING. Complete in three volumes, cloth-bound, hardcovers, octavos (23 x 14 cm), pp. ix, [1], 395; [4], 393; iv, 418. English text, edited by Francis Darwin. Bound in publisher's original cloth, coated endpapers, frontispieces, 4 illustrations, printed footnotes, appendices and index. Condition: VERY GOOD. Bindings tight and secure. Minor marks to covers, the spine ends slightly bumped. Some spotting mostly confined to page edges. Previous owner details neatly inked to title-pages. A handsome set.
Notes: The first edition, first printing of this comprehensive biography of noted nineteenth-century English naturalist and biologist Charles Darwin, complete in three volumes, and edited by his son, Francis Darwin. Volume I includes an autobiographical chapter as well as chapters on childhood and the Darwin family, as well as an extensive collection of letters. Volume II covers the beginnings of Darwin's 'Origin of Species' and the spread of evolution. Volume III covers approximately the last twenty years of Darwin's life and corresponding works, as well as a collection of botanical letters. Also including four lengthy appendices with a frontispiece to each volume and a photolithograph facsimile of Darwin's handwriting, another engraved plate, and two in-text engravings.
