Beschreibung:

DARWIN AUTOGRAPH DRAFT FROM FERTISILATION OF ORCHIDS.DARWIN, CHARLES. 1809-1882. Autograph Manuscript Draft Leaf from On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects..., heavily corrected with emendations and deletions, 1 p, with a one-line addition also in Darwin's hand to the verso (a foot-note), 4to (325 x 200 mm), ink on blue paper, Down House, Bromley, Kent, 1861-1862, headed at top of page also in Darwin's hand "Chap VI" and "(192)," annotated in red pencil in a different hand in the upper margin "There are some photographs somewhere," clean, folds, light creasing.
A RARE AUTOGRAPH DRAFT LEAF FROM DARWIN'S ORCHID BOOK, his first work post-Origin, the first to document his theory of Natural Selection in action, and the first to establish the theory of co-evolution (between orchids and insects). As Darwin himself wrote to publisher John Murray "I think this little volume will do good to the Origin, as it will show that I have worked hard at details, & it will, perhaps, serve [to] illustrate how natural History may be worked under the belief of the modification of Species." Darwin's friend Asa Gray was more direct, writing in July 1862, that he was "amused to see how your beautiful flank-movement with the Orchid book has nearly overcome his [George Bethan's, Linnaean Society President] opposition to the Origin."
Darwin had long been interested in the sexuality of Orchids, and between 1855 and 1858 had begun in earnest an exploration of their interdependence with insects. A paper sent from Alfred Russel Wallace however spurred Darwin to hurry publication of his own "abstract" on evolution, On the Origin of Species. He rekindled his interest in mid-1860, and by mid-1861 he was working on a manuscript on the subject for publication to the Linnaeus Society. Soon, however, the manuscript had become too long, and on September 21, 1861, he offered his publisher John Murray the extant version of the manuscript.
This particular section comprises pp 278-279 of the published manuscript examining the biological role of nectar in Orchids, and represents a wonderful example of Darwin's practical application of his theory of natural selection. The manuscript follows from the previous page: "[It is in perfect accordance with the scheme of nature, as worked out by natural selection, that matter excreted to free] systems from superfluous or injuring substances should be utilised for purposes of the highest importance...." He offers contrasting examples from the insect world, and specifically discusses variation in labellum of the orchid Cypripedium, specifically adapted to collect nectar.
In early November, Darwin wrote to Hooker and to Daniel Oliver, librarian of the Kew Gardens, looking for specimens of Cypripedium, and on November 8, wrote Hooker that he had received the Cypripedium, "whose ducts I will attack tomorrow." Darwin continued to work on his Orchid manuscript until he sent it to Murray on February 9, 1862, while still composing the final chapter. The book was published on May 15, 1862, to positive reviews and little controversy, even while it gave life to the theories set for in the Origin. According to Freeman in Life and Letters, Darwin's friend Asa Gray observed of Fertilisation of Orchids, "if the Orchid-book (with a few trifling omissions) had appeared before the "Origin" the author would have been canonised rather than anathematised by the natural theologians." Indeed, a review of the "Orchid book" in the Literary Churchman noted a single fault, that "Mr. Darwin's expression of admiration at the contrivances in orchids is too indirect a way of saying, 'O Lord, how manifold are Thy works.'"
Any autograph manuscript from Fertilisation of Orchids is exceedingly rare. We trace none at auction in rarebookhub, aside from a manuscript in the hand of a copyist, with some corrections by Darwin, in 2022. Darwin on-line lists only this autograph manuscript, and a partial autograph leaf held by the American Philosophic Society.