LYELL, Charles. The Geological Evidences of The Antiquity of Man with Remarks on Theories of the Origin of Species by Variation. London: John Murray. 1863.
8vo. Original green cloth with gilt vignettes to front board, gilt lettering to spine; pp. xii, 520, 32 [ads], wood-engraved frontispiece, numerous woodcut illustrations; hinges repaired, previous owners' signatures to front pastedown and title page, very good.
First edition. Lyell combines the three major themes of glaciology, evolution and the age of man. He also gives his opinion on Darwin and Wallace's work in the light of his own geological discoveries and Lamarckian theories of transmutation, and the work contains "Lyell's first published statements about Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection" (Garrison and Morton). Lyell was one of Darwin's most important influences as well as his friend, and Darwin's letter to Lyell of 4 February 1863 regarding The Antiquity of Man shows just how grateful he was to the geologist for his public endorsement: "I have just received the great book […] I have turned over pages on species & am very much pleased to see you to hit on many of the points which seem to me most important & not generally touched on by others […] You will, I feel sure, give the whole subject of change of species an enormous advance" (Correspondence XI, p. 114).
BM(NH) III, p. 1199; Garrison and Morton 204.1; Norman 1400; cf. Waller 10938 (4th ed.).
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