The Origin of The Origin

November 24, 2009

November 24, 2009: Today is the 150th anniversary of the publication of  Charles Darwin’s masterwork, On The Origin of Species

Only 1,250 copies of the first edition of On the Origin of Species were printed, and they all sold in one day. One of those who obtained a copy was Friedrich Engels, then living in Manchester. Three weeks later, he wrote to Karl Marx:

“Darwin, by the way, whom I’m reading just now, is absolutely splendid. There was one aspect of teleology that had yet to be demolished, and that has now been done. Never before has so grandiose an attempt been made to demonstrate historical evolution in Nature, and certainly never to such good effect.”

See Marx, Engels and Darwin (PDF: 609 KB)

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One Response to “The Origin of The Origin”

  1. Roger Annis on November 27th, 2009 9:48 am

    November 27, 2009

    CBC Radio’s IDEAS program is broadcasting a marvellous four-part series on the life and times of Charles Darwin. Each part is one hour long. The final episode broadcasts on December 2 at 9 pm, Radio One. You can listen to all the episodes at: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/features/darwin/index.html

    RA

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