On the origin of species (fifth edition)

by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. London : John Murray, 1869. Fifth edition, with additions and corrections (tenth thousand). Octavo, original publisher’s gilt-lettered green cloth (lightly rubbed, light wear and short split at head and foot of spine); binder’s ticket of Edmonds and Remnants to rear pastedown, original endpapers, bookplate removed from front pastedown and contemporary owner’s name (from Trinity College, Cambridge) erased from verso of front free endpaper, pp xxiii, [blank], 596, folding lithographed plate; light foxing, mainly to preliminaries, a very good copy.

The fifth edition of one of the most important texts in the history of science.

The first edition of 1859, a great rarity, is described in Freeman as “… the most important biological work ever written.”; Dibner, “… the most important single work in science.”; Printing & the Mind of Man, “… revolutionized our methods of thinking and our outlook on the natural order of things. The recognition that constant change is the order of the universe had been finally established and a vast step forward in the uniformity of nature had been taken”.

Printed in a run of 2000 copies, the fifth edition (which only had one print run) is significant for including the use of the phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ for the first time in furtherance of Darwin’s argument for natural selection.

‘The phrase ‘survival of the fittest’ is often incorrectly attributed to Darwin. In fact, it was coined by the philosopher Herbert Spencer in response to reading Origin of Species five years after the first edition was published. Alfred Russel Wallace, whose own theory about the mechanics of evolution was almost identical to Darwin’s, wrote to Darwin in 1866 with a lengthy criticism of Darwin’s term ‘natural selection’ and pleaded with him to minimise confusion by adopting ‘Survival of the fittest’. Darwin introduced the phrase in a few places in his works from 5th edition of Origin in 1869. However, he never abandoned the term ‘natural selection’ and only saw ‘survival of the fittest’ as a synonym or auxiliary phrase to help make his meaning clear to his readers.’ Darwin Correspondence Project, University of Cambridge https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/commentary/survival-fittest

The fifth edition includes all Darwin’s revisions since On the origin of species was first released in 1859, and is one of the key editions to display the development and crystallisation of Darwin’s theory from 1859 until the final, definitive edition in 1872.

On the origin of species is considered by many to be the most significant scientific book ever published.

Freeman 387c