Darwin, Charles The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex London: John Murray, 1871. 2 volumes, 8vo, original green cloth, viii 423 [13], viii 475 [1] pp., half-titles, 16 pp. advertisements dated January 1871 to rear of each volume, wood-engraved illustrations throughout the text, dark green coated endpapers, bindings rubbed, spine-ends nicked, corners slightly bumped and worn, spotting to endpapers, half-titles and advertisements, volume 1 front inner hinge cracked and with evidence of attempted adhesive repair, slight cracking to rear inner hinge, volume 2 half-title with offsetting from ink-stamp on front free endpaper, volume 1 with initial blank (none present in volume 2) [Freeman 938] Qty: (2) Note: First edition, second issue, one of 2,000 copies. The first issue appeared in February (a month before the second) and comprised 2,500 copies. The second issue contains important textual corrections and volume 1 pp. 297-9 are entirely reset. The Descent of Man was the first of Darwin's works to use the word 'evolution' (on volume 1 p. 2), preceding its use in the sixth edition of the Origin the following year. Provenance: George T. Clark (1809-1898), noted industrialist and antiquary, with his bookplate to the front pastedown of the first volume, and Tal-y-Garn ink-stamps to the front free endpapers. Clark trained as a surgeon before becoming an engineer, and worked on the construction of the Great Western Railway under Isambard Kingdom Brunel. He later became a pre-eminent ironmaster.