According 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. 
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.
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.
Hi Christina, I know! Me too. If only I were named Hamish Riley-Smith, I could certainly afford them. *sigh*
Dear All,
I am fortunate to have copy of fist edition of “Origin of species” in my book collection.
I think you may have stirred up some envy. :)
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.
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.
We dont have a box under the staircase but we do have a set of frist edition Decent of Man. Would consider selling.
oh my!!!!!!!! I seriously have one of these but where I am panicing my mum has thrown this out :-(
I found an old copy of this book at a yard sale, there is no copyright date, wondering where I can get more info…
Just search on our site for similar copies – use things like the publisher name, binding style and other significant aspects to identify similar copies.