On the Origin of Species

Charles Darwin

Jan 2017 · Pan Macmillan

About this ebook

On the Origin of Species outlines Charles Darwin's world-changing theory that life on Earth had not been brought into being by a creator, but had arisen from a single common ancestor and had evolved over time through the process of natural selection.

This beautiful Macmillan Collector's Library edition of On the Origin of Species is complete and unabridged, and features an afterword by Oliver Francis. Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.

Received with both enthusiasm and hostility on its publication, it triggered a seismic shift in our understanding of humanity's place in the natural world. It is not only a brilliant work of science but also a clear, vivid, sometimes moving piece of popular writing that reflects both Darwin's genius and his boundless enthusiasm for our planet and its species.

About the author

Born in Shropshire in 1809, Charles Darwin studied at Cambridge before sailing on the survey ship HMS Beagle between 1831 and 1836. His subsequent journal, The Voyage of the Beagle, brought him fame and repute. In 1859 he published On the Origin of Species, which he repeatedly revised through six editions. These were followed by The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, in which he fully applied his ideas of evolution to the human species. Darwin also published on subjects including botany, ecology and the expression of emotions in animal and man. He had ten children with his wife Emma, three of whom died in childhood. He died on 19 April 1882, aged 73.