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First edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species Goes for £35,000


origin-of-species-charles-darwinAccording to CBC News, a first-edition of Charles Darwin’s On The Origin of Species went for £35,000 (almost $60,000 CDN) at auction on April 27th in London.

I love the name of the high bidder: Hamish Riley-Smith. With a name like Hamish Riley-Smith, he SHOULD be a wealthy collector. I hope he bid on a smoking jacket, too. What a great name. affordable-origin-of-species-charles-darwin

We have a pretty impressive array of collectible copies available on AbeBooks, from some very affordable copies all the way up to and including one priced at £110,000.00. Hint hint, Hamish – wouldn’t you like a matching pair? Or get one for a chum.

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About Beth Carswell

I've been reading, selling, researching, loving and writing about books with AbeBooks since 2000.
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10 Responses to “First edition of Darwin’s Origin of Species Goes for £35,000”

  1. avatar
    Christina April 30, 2009 at 12:14 pm

    Swoon worthy. I would contemplate going into extreme debt for either one if I thought I had a chance in hell of success in the auction.

  2. avatar
    elizabethc May 1, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Hi Christina, I know! Me too. If only I were named Hamish Riley-Smith, I could certainly afford them. *sigh*

  3. avatar
    mahendra gamare July 27, 2009 at 10:44 am

    Dear All,

    I am fortunate to have copy of fist edition of “Origin of species” in my book collection.

  4. avatar
    Kathleen July 28, 2009 at 9:22 am

    I think you may have stirred up some envy. :)

  5. avatar
    Tony Lohrey February 22, 2010 at 12:08 am

    And to think that there were 1,250 published! Allowing for a thousand being burned by the Nazis, someone somewhere has a few in a box under the stairs! Sigh.

  6. avatar
    Nathan Baillie August 25, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    I would love to have a first edition in my collection, but I think I may have to settle for a slightly less expensive one. Still would be nice though.

  7. avatar
    DT January 14, 2011 at 12:37 pm

    We dont have a box under the staircase but we do have a set of frist edition Decent of Man. Would consider selling.

  8. avatar
    luke July 18, 2011 at 1:18 pm

    oh my!!!!!!!! I seriously have one of these but where I am panicing my mum has thrown this out :-(

  9. avatar
    Jill September 17, 2011 at 8:03 am

    I found an old copy of this book at a yard sale, there is no copyright date, wondering where I can get more info…

  10. avatar
    Richard Davies September 19, 2011 at 11:39 am

    Just search on our site for similar copies – use things like the publisher name, binding style and other significant aspects to identify similar copies.