On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

London: John Murray, 1869. Fifth. hardcover. very good. Illustrated with 1 folding lithographed diagram, facing page 132. xxiii, [1], 596 pages. Thick 8vo, original deep green textured cloth with decorative blind-stamped covers and gilt-stamped spine (some light discolorations on backstrip along with a small blank paper label; neat repairs to spine ends, otherwise just a bit of rubbing overall and the original black glazed endpapers are well preserved; several inked signatures on half title, dated 1870 & 1927, but otherwise rather clean; several pages at rear have minor chipping in margin, one page has a longer closed tear, just touching the text). London: John Murray, 1869. Fifth edition, with additions and corrections, with "tenth thousand" designation. A very good(+) copy; clean and tight, with binder's ticket of Edmonds & Remnants on rear paste-down, bound without the rear advertisements.<br/> <br/> A nice copy of "the most influential scientific work of the nineteenth century" and "the most important biological work ever written" (Horblit, Freeman 387). Six editions were printed during Darwin's lifetime -- this is the fifth, and the first to use Herbert Spencer's expression "survival of the fittest" (chapter iv). "Tenth Thousand" -- one of only 2000 copies printed. <BR> <BR> The foundational evolutionary biology text and one of the most influential science books ever written. Although it has stirred near continuous debate since its publication in 1859, Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection has become the unifying theory of the life sciences.<br/> <br/>