The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex

By Charles Darwin

With a Preface by Ashley Montagu

and Drawings by Fritz Kredel

The 100 Greatest Books Ever Written

Collector's Edition

Bound in Genuine Leather

1979, The Easton Press
Norwalk, Connecticut

Sewn binding. Dark Green leather over boards with gilt decoration on front and back and design and lettering on spine. Integral ribbon marker sewn in. Four spine hubs. All edges of leaves gilt. Moiré endpapers. 10 5/8", 362 pages, publisher's preface, preface, table of contents, Introduction, illustrations, unattached Easton Press bookplate (see second image)

Near New condition. Integral bookmark appears undisturbed.

From the Publisher's Preface

Convinced that animal species have undergone great changes, Darwin could not avoid the belief that man must come under the same law. And in 1871 he came out with "The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex." (A corrected and revised version published in 1877 is the basis of the text of the present edition.) If the "Origin of Species" is the most important book of the nineteenth century, "The Descent of Man" claims a close second place.

The theory of evolution developed by Charles Darwin caused a world-wide controversy, and he became world-famous. But he remained quietly at Down, in Kent, working steadily and writing papers for scientific journals. Indigestion and gout had plagued Darwin for years: in 1882 his heart began to fail, and on April 19 he died. he was buried in Westminster Abbey.

Readers will discover, perhaps to their surprise, that "The Descent of Man" is extremely readable. They will find the same true of the Preface contributed to the present edition by the anthropologist and biologist Ashley Montagu. It is a masterly discourse on Darwin's book and its relation to all of us.

BEP