On the Various Contrivances by Which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and On the Good Effects of Intercrossing. With Illustrations.

First edition of Darwin's first book following the Origin of Species. This monograph on the structure and function of orchid flowers was "the first of the volumes of supporting evidence" for natural selection (Freeman). The print run is estimated at no more than 2,000 copies, and it is the only Darwin title issued by Murray between 1859 and 1910 not bound in the characteristic green cloth. Orchids is "a methodological masterclass in the scientific use of history, showing how homologies between flower parts - these had been elucidated by previous botanists - allow us to model past evolutionary events. Throughout the book Darwin showed how natural selection can create exquisite co-adaptations between plants and animals and in so doing it founded the science of pollination ecology. He was even able to make predictions based on understanding that the extraordinary morphology of orchid flowers is co-adapted to the morphology and behavior of their pollinating species. Orchids was the first of the botanical books which Darwin published from 1862, all of which 'exalted' plants and showed how closely linked to animals they are. [It] appeared in May 1862 and there were probably only 2,000 copies printed. Although highly praised by botanists at the time, it never sold well" (Freeman), the public remaining more interested in the controversy of evolution than the details. Freeman 800; Norman 595. Octavo. Folding woodcut plate of the Orchis mascula facing p. 18, 33 woodcuts within text. With 32 pp. publisher's advertisements dated September 1871 at rear. Original plum fine diaper-grain cloth (Freeman's variant b), spine lettered and decorated in gilt, covers ornamentally panelled in blind, front cover with centrally gilt-stamped orchid motif, brown coated endpapers. Cloth entirely unrestored and binding tight and square, spine sunned, extremities gently rubbed, inner hinges tender but holding firm, contents clean: a very good copy indeed.…