Search Results: the various contrivances by which orchids by darwin charles 1809 1882

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New York: D. Appleton, 1892. Early Reprint. Decorative Cloth. Fine. A virtually pristine example of one of Darwin's scarcer titles. 8vo: xvi,300,[8]pp, with 38 text woodcuts. Publisher's terra-cotta cloth, upper cover stamped in black and lower cover in blind with edge roll and trailing vine device, spine ruled and lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, cream colored end papers. Top edge dust-soiled, pages very lightly toned, but a spectacular, unread survival. Freeman 802. Second Edition, revised, from the stereotypes of the second London edition. (But effectively the first American edition, since no first edition was issued in the United States.) According to Asa Gray, the most important nineteen-century American botanist, "If the Orchid-book (with a few trifling omissions) had appeared before the 'Origin,' the author would have been canonised rather than anathematised by the natural theologians," and he notes that a review in the Literary Churchman found only one fault, "that Mr. Darwin's expression of… Read More

vi+365,+[1] pages with one folding plate and 33 woodcuts in text without the advertisements. Small octavo (7 1/2" 4 3/4") bound in full 19th-century calf, spine gilt stamped spine in five compartments divided by double gilt fillets with Rugby School coat of arms to cover. Marbled end pages. (Clark: 180-181); Freeman 800; Norman 595) First edition.
Fertilisation of Orchids is a book by English naturalist Charles Darwin published on 15 May 1862 under the full explanatory title On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids Are Fertilized by Insects, and On the Good Effects of Intercrossing. Darwin's previous book, On the Origin of Species, had briefly mentioned evolutionary interactions between insects and the plants they fertilized, and this new idea was explored in detail. Field studies and practical scientific investigations that were initially a recreation for Darwin—a relief from the drudgery of writing—developed into enjoyable and challenging experiments. Aided in his work by… Read More