Charles Darwin from Ted Kottler, Bookseller (6 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Frontispiece, xx, 172 pp. Original cloth. Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket. New price: US$75.00. 'In observation of the bicentenary of Erasmus Darwin's death, Cambridge is publishing this collection of personal writings by his grandson Charles. This is the first unabridged publication of a book by Charles Darwin, and it contains a series of illuminating insights into his grandfather's life and work. With quotations from letters and candid comments by Charles Darwin about his books; and free of the conventions of scientific writing; this small volume of personal observations illuminates the life of a distinguished scientist as seen by his accomplished successor' (Cambridge University Press Web site). The original 1879 edition was published as a 'Preliminary Notice' (pp. 1-127, Freeman 1319) to W. S. Dallas's English translation of Ernst Krause's Erasmus Darwin (London: John Murray, 1879). 'Ernst Krause's short scientific biography of Darwin's grandfather had originally appeared in the German periodical Kosmos in February 1879. . . . This translation was published in November, and in it Krause altered the text to refer, indirectly, to Samuel Butler's Evolution Old and New which had appeared in May. The alterations are not specifically noticed in the book, and Butler took strong exception to them, an exception which resulted in a sordid and one-sided quarrel in which Darwin remained silent. Darwin's own biographical contribution, which was based on family papers, is longer than the original article, and, in recognition that it contains his work, the binding is standard green cloth. Festing Jones, in his Samuel Butler, a Memoir (Vol. I, p. 320, 1919) states that the translation was instigated by Charles Darwin and his brother Erasmus' (Freeman, pp. 159-60). [DF4].

Seller Inventory # 18702

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First Edition. Original cloth, large 8vo. Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket. This edition is now out of print in cloth. 'Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species is the most important and yet least read scientific work in the history of science. Now James T. Costa experienced field biologist, theorist on the evolution of insect sociality, and passionate advocate for teaching Darwin in a society in which a significant proportion of adults believe that life on earth has been created in its present form within the last 10,000 years has given a new voice to this epochal work. By leading readers line by line through the Origin, Costa brings evolution's foundational text to life for a new generation. The Annotated Origin is the edition of Darwin's masterwork used in Costa's course at Western Carolina University and in Harvard's Darwin Summer Course at Oxford. A facsimile of the first edition of 1859 is accompanied by Costa's extensive marginal annotations, drawing on his extensive experience with Darwin's ideas in the field, lab, and classroom. This edition makes available an accessible, useful, and practical resource for anyone reading the Origin for the first time or for those who want to reread it with the insights and perspective that a working biologist can provide' (Harvard University Press Web site). 'Clearly worth attention . . . Costa makes use of his experience as a field naturalist and his knowledge of the modern literature of evolutionary biology to illumine many passages in Darwin's work' (Richard C. Lewontin, The New York Review of Books). 'We have long had the simple facsimile of the all-important first edition of the Origin, published by the same press (Harvard) with a short introduction by the eminent evolutionist Ernst Mayr. Now we have a much expanded work, with the most interesting comments and brief essays by a first-class biologist lined up on the pages against the original text' (Michael Ruse, Quarterly Review of Biology). 'On the Origin of Species has too long been one of those worthy books whose fate is to be lauded but unread. Jim Costa's deft commentary an authoritative and engaging mix of history and science will change that. The Origin is forbidding and inaccessible no longer it has evolved! The Annotated Origin of Species restores, for modern readers, the freshness and excitement that made it a bestseller when it first appeared. Charles Darwin, I'm sure, couldn't wish for a better 200th birthday present' (Andrew Berry, editor of Infinite Tropics: An Alfred Russel Wallace Anthology). 'Despite being 150 years old, the Origin is a living text for biologists. It is full of unsurpassed natural history observations, a model of careful scientific argument that still can catch the imagination with the grandeur of the views it puts forward. Jim Costa has provided an exceptionally lucid explanation' (Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: The Power of Place). 'The Annotated Origin is a culminating and, in an original manner of its own, the most useful of the centennial Darwin publications. It gives you the choice of reading page by page the original Origin, or its modern interpretation, or both together' (Edward O. Wilson).

Seller Inventory # 25086

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. xviii, 277; viii, 326 pp; illus. Original cloth. A Near Fine set, in near fine dust jackets.

Seller Inventory # 18256

Soft cover. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Facsimile Reprint of Darwin's first publication. v, 31 pp. Original sewn printed wrappers. Near Fine. 'Towards the close of our voyage I received a letter whilst at Ascension, in which my sisters told me that Sedgwick had called on my father, and said that I should take a place among the leading scientific men. I could not at the time understand how he could have learnt anything of my proceedings, but I heard (I believe afterwards) that Henslow had read some of the letters which I wrote to him before the Philosophical Society of Cambridge (Read at the meeting held November 16, 1835, and printed in a pamphlet of 31 pages for distribution among the members of the Society.), and had printed them for private distribution' (The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, ed. Nora Barlow, 1958, p. 81).

Seller Inventory # 15352

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. Frontispiece, xxxiv, 430 pp; illus. Original cloth, 4to. Upper corners of covers bumped, else Near Fine, in near fine dust jacket. In print in paperback only at US$80.00. [DF4].

Seller Inventory # 18710

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. 1st Edition. 816 pp. Original cloth. Near Fine, without dust jacket. This is the original edition, not the print-on-demand reprint. 'The theories propounded by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species have had a profound and revolutionary effect, not only on biology but also on philosophy, history, and theology. His concept of natural selection has created eruptive disputes among scientists and religious leaders of his time and ours. The phenomenal importance of his brilliant work is universally recognized, but the present volume marks the first scholarly attempt to compile a complete variorum edition of The Origin of Species, covering all of the extensive variants in the six texts published between 1859 and 1872. Darwin's changes were extensive. His book grew by a third as he rewrote many passages four or five times, and in this edition Morse Peckham has recorded every one of those changes. A book of such distinctive dimensions, on a subject of such profound importance, will be of intense interest to historians of biology, evolution, science, literature, and cultural development. It will be an invaluable aid to the clarification and full comprehension of this complex and renowned scientific classic' (Web site of the University of Pennsylvania Press, which reprinted the book in paperback in 2006, ISBN 0812219546, new price $32.50). 'Darwin produced six editions [of The Origin of Species] during his lifetime and, as Peckham demonstrated nearly fifty years ago, he tinkered constantly with the text, adding and amending, revising and rethinking and, above all, responding to criticism' (Times Literary Supplement). Also, the 2004 Castle Books edition (ISBN: 0785819118) is NOT a reprint of Peckham's Variorum Edition, as some suggest.

Seller Inventory # 18596