On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,: or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Third edition, with additions and corrections. (Seventh Thousand.)

London: John Murray,, 1861. Unrestored in the original cloth Third edition of "the most influential scientific work of the 19th century" (Horblit) and "certainly the most important biological book ever written" (Freeman), in which Darwin explained his concept of evolutionary adaptation through natural selection, which would become the foundation of modern evolutionary theory. "The publication of the Origin of Species ushered in a new era in our thinking about the nature of man. The intellectual revolution it caused and the impact it had on man's concept of himself and the world were greater than those caused by the works of Copernicus, Newton, and the great physicists of more recent times... Every modern discussion of man's future, the population explosion, the struggle for existence, the purpose of man and the universe, and man's place in nature rests on Darwin" (Ernst Mayr). Darwin's Origin was first published in 1859, the second edition in 1860. For the third edition, the text was extensively altered, and a table is given of differences from the second edition, a feature that occurs in each subsequent Murray edition. The third edition is also notable for the addition of the historical sketch in which Darwin acknowledges his predecessors in the general theory of evolution, which had already appeared in shorter form in the first German edition, as well as in the fourth American printing, both in 1860. All copies of the third edition are marked "seventh thousand" on the title page, noting the total issue of copies from the first edition onwards. Octavo. Original green diagonal-wave-grain cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt (Freeman's variant a, no priority), covers blocked in blind, brown endpapers. Folding diagram facing p. 123. 2 pp. publisher's advertisement at rear. Binder's ticket of Edmonds & Remnants of London to rear pastedown. Provenance documents laid in: typed letter signed from natural history booksellers Wheldon & Wesley Ltd's director, dated 24 June 1975, offering one P. E. Spargo this copy for sale, with the corresponding invoice, dated 22 July 1975. Spargo's ownership signature to front pastedown dated August 1975, Wheldon & Wesley Ltd's ticket below and their cataloguing slip to rear free endpaper; earlier ownership signature opposite half-title. Slightly slanted, spine ends and corners bumped, a touch frayed and worn, inner hinges cracked but firm, contents evenly toned with the occasional mark, otherwise clean, brittleness of paper resulting in short closed tears and nicks to edges (including a 4 cm closed tear to B10, not obscuring text). A very good copy. Freeman 381. Ernst Mayr, introduction to the Harvard University facsimile of the first edition, 1964, pp. vii-xxviii.