LIFE AND LETTERS OF CHARLES DARWIN, Including An Autobiographical Chapter. Edited by His Son, Francis Darwin in Two Volumes

Limited Authorized Westminster Edition. 1,000, copies were printed of which this is number 26. An early reissue of the first American edition. With six black and white illustrations on plates, including portraits and manuscript facsimile. 8vo, original brick red cloth, lettered and ruled on the spines in gilt, the upper covers with a decorative border in black and with matching decorative border in blind on lower covers. viii, 558; iv, 562. A very good set with just a hint of darkening to the spines. Volume 1 has a previous owner's name written in pencil with a date of 1899. Below is a longer quote from Balzac wtritten in ink. This is the first and most basic life of Darwin. It contains the first version of Darwin's autobiography, which was edited to avoid giving offense to his widow (the full text was not published in English until 1958). The letters were selected with a more personal rather than scientific bias, with particular emphasis on the period during which Darwin was writing and preparing for publication his Origin of Species. This issue is in a more convenient format then the British 3 volume set. No date is present but the two volumes were published around 1895 or 1896.…