Lot 291 - A196 Books & Autographs - Wednesday, 24. March 2021, 02.00 PM
Darwin, Charles.
On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. With 1 folding lithographic diagram.
London, John Murray, 1859. Octavo. IX, 502, 32 p. Original cloth binding with gilt title and decoration on spine (Freeman binding variant a; extremities of spine, hinges and corners minimally rubbed, front inner hinge with tear, front cover somewhat loosened, block very slightly warped, but binding intact).
Dibner 199 - Freeman 373 - Grolier, Science 23b - Norman 593 - Printing and the Mind of Man 344b. - First Edition. - The last leaf of the index of contents loose and with small blemishes in the bend. Distinct foxing from the beginning and up to about page 25, the diagram also affected, afterwards only in the margins or edge; title with a somewhat larger stain in the upper area (approx. 2 x 2 cm). The block cracking before page 217 but not completely broken. - Overall a very good and complete copy in the original publisher's binding.
- Provenance: Autograph ownership entry A[lexandre] P[ierre] Prevost (1821-1873) in pencil on half title, from whom probably two pencil markings in the text (Conclusion) also originate. Prevost came from the well-known Geneva family of scholars with several connections to England. His grandfather, the philosopher and physicist Pierre Prevost (1751-1839) was a foreign member of the Royal Society and had translated Adam Smith. His father, Alexandre-Louis Prevost (1788-1876), lived temporarily in London as a Swiss diplomat. Alexandre Pierre himself was married to a daughter of the Geneva physicist Auguste Arthur de la Rive. - The present copy thus provides interesting references to the history of science, and has hitherto remained in the possession of the descendants of Prevost.
- Provenance: Autograph ownership entry A[lexandre] P[ierre] Prevost (1821-1873) in pencil on half title, from whom probably two pencil markings in the text (Conclusion) also originate. Prevost came from the well-known Geneva family of scholars with several connections to England. His grandfather, the philosopher and physicist Pierre Prevost (1751-1839) was a foreign member of the Royal Society and had translated Adam Smith. His father, Alexandre-Louis Prevost (1788-1876), lived temporarily in London as a Swiss diplomat. Alexandre Pierre himself was married to a daughter of the Geneva physicist Auguste Arthur de la Rive. - The present copy thus provides interesting references to the history of science, and has hitherto remained in the possession of the descendants of Prevost.
CHF 70 000 / 100 000 | (€ 72 160 / 103 090)
Sold for CHF 97 900 (including buyer’s premium)
All information is subject to change.