92

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

On the Origin of Species. First London Edition with Interesting Provenance.

London: John Murray, 1859.
First edition, octavo, ex libris Sir Frederick Pollock, 1st Baronet (1783-1870), with his signature to title: "Sir F. Pollock / Lord Chief Baron / Nov. 1859"; half-title present; folding lithographic plate at page 117 with lower blank corner torn away; 30 pages of ads at rear dated June 1859; bound in publisher's full green cloth with brown coated endleaves; book ticket of Edmonds & Remnants Binders inside back cover; ticket proclaiming "Bought of Willis & Sotheran. New & Secondhand Booksellers, 136 Strand, London," inside front cover; engraved armorial bookplate of Sir Frederick Pollock inside front board; evidence of a bookplate removed from front free fly leaf; smaller similar fault on front pastedown below the Sotheran ticket; front and back inner joints split; cloth on front board bubbling slightly; some light foxing confined to the first few leaves; sewing loosening; housed in custom folding chemise by James MacDonald Co. of New York with matching green buckram slipcase; 8 x 5 in.

Freeman 373; Garrison-Morton 220; Grolier, Science 23b; Norman 593; PMM 344b.

Sir Frederick's third son, George Frederick Pollock (1821-1915) was friends with Darwin. The two were close while Darwin was making the difficult decision to publish this work. After reading the first few chapters in April of 1859, John Murray firmly committed to putting On the Origin of Species into print, but Darwin sought further validation. He reached out to Whitwell Elwin, editor of the Quarterly Review, and G.F. Pollock. Elwin was a bit spooked by the content, but Pollock was all in. He felt that the manuscript was ready for publication as is and that Murray should increase his proposed print run from 500 to 1,000 copies. To Elwin's chilly response, Darwin wrote, "I have done my best. Others might, I have no doubt, done the job better, if they had my materials; but that is no help."

The book was published on 24 November 1859. Pollock's inscription is dated the same month and year. One might suppose that son George purchased copies to distribute to family and friends in support of Darwin's world-changing theories. (For more on the Pollock connection see: Haynes, E. S. P. 1916. Master George Pollock. Cornhill Magazine n.s. 41: 232-7; and the Darwin Correspondence Project: https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letters/darwins-works-letters/origin)

"The John Murray of his day consulted [George Pollock] as to publishing 500 copies of Origin of Species. Murray was extremely skeptical as to the soundness of the work, and thought 500 copies as large a number as it was prudent to print. He remarked that the Darwinian theory was as absurd as though one should contemplate a fruitful union between a poker and a rabbit. George Pollock read the book and remarked that the contents were probably beyond the comprehension of any scientific man then living. But he advised publishing 1,000 copies, because Mr. Darwin had so brilliantly surmounted the formidable obstacles which he was honest enough to put in his own path." (Quoted from Haynes's piece in Cornhill Magazine- citation above.)

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