LA DESCENTE DE le plus cher L'HOMME PAR CHARLES DARWIN 1883

[DARWIN,CHARLES].The Descent of Man andSelection in Relation to Sex.WithIllustrations.London: John Murray,1883.

Secondedition [seventeenth thousand].Cloth-bound; hardcover; octavo (19.5 x 13 x 4.5 cm); pp. [xvi], 693.English text.Publishers original green embossed cloth covers; gilt titles anddecoration to spine; dark-brown coatedendpapers; half-title; illustrated; rear index in double columns.Printed by William Clowes.Condition: VERY GOOD.Bindingsecure and square, covers very well preserved, minor bumping to spineends.Contents fresh, clean and withoutprevious ownership markings.

Notes: Second edition of Darwins second major work following the publication ofOrigin of the Species in 1859.TheDescent of Man was the first work to use the word evolution, preceding itsuse in the sixth edition of Origin of Species by a year, and it expands uponthe theories of selection and evolution proposed in Origin of Species.In Descent, Darwin puts forth a new theory ofsexual selection, explaining how it differs from and works alongside naturalselection.This volume discusses how evolutionaryprocesses apply to humankind, drawing in concepts from evolutionary psychologyand ideas of differing characteristics of anthropologically defined races ofpeople.This work had huge implicationsfor the history of humankind and was met with mixed responses from a society inwhich conservative religious beliefs could be at odds with scientificadvancement, but it went on to become immensely popular. [Freeman 939, 940;Kohler 880].