DARWIN, Charles. The Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle Under the Command of Captain Fitzroy During the Years 1832 to 1836. Illustrated with numerous coloured and black and white plates (some folding). Four volumes.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY COMMEMORATIVE FACSIMILE

London: Club Internacional del Libro for The Geographical Society, London, 1994. Quarto. Commemorative Facsimile Edition No. 196/1000. Volume I is signed by Dr. John Hemming, Director and Secretary of the R.G.S. Bound in half morocco with gilt border designs over marbled boards; spine elaborately tooled in gilt; marbled endpapers; green silk marker. Housed in a polished wood display case with brass hinged and ratcheted lectern with shaped sides. A superb set.

Charles Robert Darwin(1809-1882), naturalist; grandson of Erasmus Darwin, was educated at Shrewsbury, Edinburgh University, and Christ’s College, Cambridge. He embarked as a naturalist, by invitation of Captain FitzRoy on board the Beagle, bound for South America on a scientific expedition in 1831, returning to England in 1836. In 1840 he published the present work. Darwin first gave definite written shape to his theory of evolution by natural selection in 1844. The contents include: Fossil Mammalia by Richard Owen; Mammalia by George Waterhouse; Birds, by John Gould; Fish by Leonard Jenyns; Reptiles, by Thomas Bell.

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