Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species, 1859.

This appears to be one of the 90 or so presentation copies of the first edition sent by Darwin and signed by one of publisher Murray’s clerks (for Darwin’s autograph list, see the appendix to volume 8 of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin). A first edition in first binding (known as Variant B), with 32 pages of publisher’s advertisements in the back (state 3). This unique copy is inscribed, likely by Darwin himself, on a slip of paper attached to the front pastedown, “With the Authors Best Compliments” (note the missing apostrophe in “Authors” and compare this to “Häckels” in Darwin’s letter to Ferguson, Case 5 of this exhibit). In pristine condition, the volume sports the original green cloth covers. It comes from the library of George Poole III, the director of Poole Brothers, a Chicago printing company. Poole served on the boards of trustees of the Newberry Library and the University of Chicago. His special interest was in fine printing, rare books, and library research collections. His own collection of rare manuscripts, dating from the third to the sixteenth century (now also held by the Lilly Library), was among the most notable of the mid-twentieth century.