A lovely example of the second edition with dozens of pencilled annotations by an early owner that read like an inchoate wail of fury at Darwin’s whole project, labelling him as ‘dirty both in thought and conduct’ (a charge more usually made against the The Descent of Man) for his preoccupation with sex. His theses are labelled ‘beyond the pale of argument and proof’, his geology inept, and then there is the personal vituperation: ‘I know not how Mr D was produced whether by natural selection or special creation of a Demiurgus. But I wish to heavens either his male or female progenitor had been steril.’
The Origin of Species has been appraised as ‘certainly the most important biological book ever written’ (Freeman, 49) which ‘revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things’ (PMM, 344). That, certainly, was the fear of our annotator.
DESCRIPTION: Second edition, fifth thousand. Duodecimo, pp., ix, [1], 502, 32 of publisher’s advertisements dated January 1860 to end, plus folding lithographic chart facing p. 117; short closed tear along one of the folds of the plate. Collated and complete. Publisher’s forest green wavy-grain cloth, blind-stamped geometric floral design to boards; titled in gilt to spine, binding variant ‘A’ with the imprint letters 3mm high (Freeman 44, n. 113); light brown endpapers, binder’s ticket of Edmonds and Remnants to rear paste-down. Freeman, 44; PMM, 344.
Detailed annotations beginning in chapter vii and then throughout by a highly critical contemporary reader in pencil (and very occasionally ink), legibility variable as a result of a previous owner trying (and failing) to erase them, with some annotations highly legible, some partly erased but readable.
Lower hinge cracked, corners bumped, very minor spots of soiling to boards, shelf-wear to spine-tips, cloth rubbed through in one 5mm square spot to spine and 5mm closed tear to head. Slight nick to margin of p. 3 but contents otherwise clean. A little loosening to the sewing. A solid, well preserved copy.
ANNOTATION: The former owner of this copy of the second edition, published two months after the initial run of 1250 copies rapidly sold out, thought quite the opposite. Beginning in Chapter VII, which presented Darwin’s views on geological deep time, the contemporary annotator has supplied voluminous and disparaging commentary on the scientific, theological, moral, stylistic and scatological failings of the eminent naturalist. Many of the criticisms of Darwin’s theory are recognisable: Darwin was roundly criticised in the scientific press for his understanding of geology, and the challenge that the theory of natural selection posed to creationist Christians is well-documented.
Unusually, this annotator takes particular umbrage with Darwin’s ‘carnality’ and his ‘bawdy mind’, commenting ‘these naturalists are dirty in both thought and conduct’ and then frequently on instances where Darwin discusses sex. This annotator supplies their full name to the rear end-paper but we are unable to decipher it.
An extensively annotated copy by a so-far unidentified contemporary critic of Darwin, which warrants further research. A full list of the annotations is available upon request.
