8vo. 447pp, [9]. With a folding table. Original publisher's printed brown cloth boards, tooled and lettered in gilt to spine. Lightly rubbed and marked, with chipping to head and foot of spine, edges of boards slightly toned, spine dulled. Leaves lightly browned, occasional light spotting.

The fifth edition, with additions and corrections, of Charles Darwin's (1809-1882) seminal work. Considered to be the foundation of evolutionary biology, The Origin of Species introduces the theory of natural selection, which states that species populations alter and diversify over generations - branching out from a shared common ancestor.

1871 proved a vexing year for Darwin, as he received persistent criticism from zoologist St George Jackson Mivart, who in his Genesis of Species (1871) accused Darwin, among other allegations, of being 'Dogmatic' in his assertions. In response, Darwin, who struggled to remain even- tempered in conversations with his rival, gathered a selection of material to refute Mivart's claims; the revised sixth edition of the Origin of Species, published the following year, contained supporting research from Alexander Agassiz, Abraham Dee Bartlett, Albert Günther, George Busk, T. H. Huxley, Osbert Salvin, and William Henry.