On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,
DARWIN, Charles
Fifth Thousand. [Second Edition, Second Issue].
BRIGHT, FRESH COPY OF THE SECOND 'ORIGIN'
Published: John Murray, 1860
Stock code: 28009
Price: £9,400.00
8vo., Fifth Thousand, [Second Edition, Second Issue], with folding diagram, neat contemporary signature in pencil at head of title, with second pencilled signature lower down, front free endpaper a little chafed at fore-edge, three or four small fox-spots each on half-title, title and diagram; original green cloth, boards elaborately blocked in blind, gilt back, , brown endpapers, uncut, expertly recased with original endpapers preserved, a remarkably bright, fresh copy in minimally restored publisher's binding.
With 32pp publisher's catalogue (dated January, 1860) bound in at end, and the binder's ticket of Edmonds & Remnants on rear paste-down. The second edition, second issue is not so named on title but simply labelled 'Fifth Thousand'; Freeman records that 3000 copies were printed following the 1250 copies of the first edition. Although Darwin considered this edition a rapid revision to meet demand, his changes are much more than mere correction. 'The total number [of changes] in this edition is impressive enough. No chapter was untouched' (Peckham). The most famous alteration is the dilution of the whale bear passage on p.184, which Darwin later regretted although he never restored it. With the signed and ruled advertisements which Freeman considers the first issue. Freeman 113 variant a; Freeman F376.