On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection

London: John Murray, 1869. Fifth (Tenth Thousand). Good. Considered one of the most important books every published, any edition (there were six) of The Origin of Species that was published during Darwin's lifetime (he died in 1882) is exceptionally sought after, since the print runs were relatively small for such a significant work Only 10,000 copies were printed cumulatively through this fifth edition (which was for only 2,000 copies)
This copy was custom bound in full leather with gilt tooling, but the spine and front board are loose and the back board has detached But the hinge breaks are clean and should be repairable The text block is very sound however, and except for the hinge detachments, the leather binding is in relatively good condition There is modest foxing on the ffeps, but otherwise the contents are in very good condition with only minor age toning The edges are marbled, as are the endpapers.