On the Origin of Species

First published in 1859, this scientific argument proposes that species are not independently created but descend from common ancestors through variation and natural selection. Darwin assembles evidence from domestic breeding, the geographic distribution of plants and animals, the fossil record, embryology, and the classification of living forms. He describes how slight heritable differences, if useful in the struggle for existence, accumulate over generations, and he answers objections about the incompleteness of the geological record and the origin of complex organs. The book is a continuous case for descent with modification, written as a naturalist's brief rather than a narrative.

Bound in brown buckram, blocked with a black and gold design by David Eccles. Black slipcase.