Rare first Spanish edition -and first translation into Spanish- of one of the most significant and meaningful works of science ever published, the Origin of Species; this translation with two letters by Darwin not published anywhere else: “the most important single work in science” (Dibner); “a turning point, not only in the history of science, but in the history of ideas in general” (DSB). Published in 1877, almost 20 years after the first saw light in London, the reason for the delay was -most likely- the strong influence the. Church had still in most Spanish-speaking countries, in direct relation with the contradiction between Darwin’s theory and Church teachings (evolution from an animal as opposed to creationism).
Whatever the case may be, this translation into Spanish meant Latin American countries (Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Peru, etc.) would profit from its reading, expanding in a single act the potential readership to almost 20 countries; Darwin’s letter, included in the book, speaks of that, and he expresses his content with making it available for the Spanish-speaking. Audience. “The book, stripped of references and academic paraphernalia, was aimed not at the specialists, but directly at the reading public” (DNB, for the first English edition, but the point being it was an easy-to-read book).
Rare, we can find 4 institutional holdings of this book according to OCLC: Huntington Library, National Library of Medicine, Universidad de Navarra, and the Library at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.
Freeman, 770.
