(London: John Murray, 1890).

A HIGHLY IMPORTANT WORK. An extremely well preserved copy of this edition, essentially a very early reprint of the second edition. Any nineteenth century printing of this work is hard to find in such nice condition, most copies encountered are very well used. This copy appears all but unread and is uncommonly fresh in every regard.
The DESCENT OF MAN is one of Darwin’s most important works. It was in this book that Darwin first used the word “evolution” in any of his works. The last chapter is about sexual selection in relation to man, and ends with his famous statement about man's lowly origin. In the preface to the second edition, Darwin wrote of “the fiery ordeal through which this book has passed.” Profiting from the criticism leveled at the text together with a number of new facts several correspondents had given him, Darwin revised and added to his book. However, his “conviction of the power of sexual selection remains unshaken.”
"Darwin wrote, in the preface to the second edition, of 'the fiery ordeal through which this book has passed.' He had avoided the logical outcome of the general theory of evolution, bringing man into the scheme, for twelve years, and in fact it had, by that time, been so much accepted that the clamour of the opposition was not strident. He had also been preceded in 1862 by Huxley's MAN'S PLACE IN NATURE. Item #70045

Second Edition, revised and augmented. Complete in one volume. Illustrated with numerous figures and drawings throughout the text. 8vo, publisher's original dark green cloth lettered and tooled in gilt on the spine and with panels and rules in blind on both covers. xvi, 693 pp. An especially bright and clean copy in the original cloth, internally very fine indeed, the binding well preserved.