On the Origin of Species: or, The Causes of the Phenomena of Organic Nature; A Course of Six Lectures to Working Men

New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1863. First American edition. Hardcover. Very Good. 8vo. [5], 4-150, [8] (including 6 unnumbered pages of publisher's advertisements) pp. Dark green pebbled cloth with paper label on the spine, light yellow endpapers and pastedowns. A few in-text diagrams and illustrations. Contemporary owner's name and date written on free front endpaper (George R. Brush, a surgeon in the US Navy from the time of the Civil War until his death in 1895), tiny collector's sticker on the front pastedown, and a brief inscription on the final page indicating Brush completed reading the book on May 29, 1865 on board the steamship Guatemala near Puntarenas with Professor Seebach on board (Karl von Seebach was a well-known geologist at Gottingen who published work on Central American volcanos and was presumably returning from the extended trip he made to perform this research). ADB: Seebach, Karl Albert Ludwig von; Oxford DNB, Adrian Desmond, "Huxley, Thomas Henry"; Suffolk County News (New York), March 7, 1902, p. 3. Huxley was an early advocate of Darwinism (and in fact, was the first to use the term 'Darwinism') and did much to popularize and support the theory of evolution in the nineteenth century. The present work is based on lectures delivered by Huxley during the period 1860 - 1863 in which he explained Darwin's ideas to a more popular audience. An attractive copy of this book from an important period in the history of science. A Very Good volume with toning to the first and final blank leaves, a few traces of minor discoloration to the cloth, and darkening and a tiny bit of loss to the spine label.