1871 Charles Darwin - DESCENT OF MAN - Wrappers

Title: The Descent of Man.

Published: Cape Town: Cape Monthly Magazine, 1871
Item is in ORIGINAL Condition, With Original Orange Wrappers, string-tied as issued.

Notes: 8vo. Original condition with orange string-tied wrappers titled to front. This is a complete monthly issue, 10 pages of which pertain to the above mentioned account. Seldom found in such good and original condition.

This issue features a critique of the first edition of Charles Darwin's 'Descent of Man,' speculating on the distinguished naturalist's approach to morality, chapters on sexual selection, and the so-called 'speculative' foundation for his revolutionary theories. Captivating insight into the initial conflicting reactions to Darwin's evolution concept, which was deemed enlightened, blasphemous, and everything in between. This review was published in June 1871, expediently after the release of the book.

The Descent of Man of first published in 1871, and included first use of the word evolution, in any of Darwin's works, predating its appearance in the sixth edition of The Origin of Species the following year. In the Descent of Man, Darwin compared man's physical and psychological characteristics to similar traits in apes and other animals, showing how man's mind and even moral sense could have developed through evolutionary processes.

The Cape Monthly Magazine was first printed in Cape Town in 1857 and continued intermittently throughout the latter nineteenth century, supplying a publication outlet for local knowledge on topics from botany to philology.