On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects,

£3,250 · Offered by Shapero Rare Books

the first volume of supporting evidence for the origin of species First edition, first issue, of this important contribution to Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Freeman's variant a with vertically lined cloth and ads dated December, 1861. Orchids 'was concerned with working out in detail the relationships between sexual structures of orchids and the insects which fertilise them, their evolution being attributed to natural selection. It is therefore the first of the volumes of supporting evidence. It was much praised by botanists, but sold only about 6,000 copies before the turn of the century' (Freeman, The Works of Charles Darwin, p. 112). Darwin wrote to his publisher John Murray in September, 1861 that, 'I think this little volume will do good to the Origin' (Freeman). In his autobiography, Darwin stated that, though the preparation of Orchids had taken ten months, 'most of the facts had been slowly accumulated during several previous years. During the summer of 1839, and, I believe, during the previous summer, I was led to attend to the cross-fertilisation of flowers by the aid of insects, from having come to the conclusion in my speculations on the origin of species, that crossing played an important part in keeping specific forms constant. I attended to the subject more or less during every subsequent summer... For some years before 1862 I had specially attended to the fertilisation of our British orchids; and it seemed to me the best plan to prepare a

• Printing: first
• Binding: Hardcover

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