Beschreibung:

DARWIN (CHARLES)The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, FIRST EDITION, second issue, AUTHOR'S PRESENTATION COPY TO ARTHUR MOSTYN OWEN, INSCRIBED "From the author" in a clerical hand on the front free endpaper, and with an AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED ("CHARLES DARWIN"), further inscribed by Mostyn Owen on the front free endpaper ("A Mostyn Owen/ Woodhouse/ Salop", and "This was sent me by Charles Darwin/ AMO/ 1873", in pencil), and on Mostyn Owen's address label ("a present from the author Charles Darwin/ in 1873", in ink on front paste-down, the date in pencil and inked over later), the letter 4 pages, on Down House headed notepaper, 8vo, dated 23 May 1873, preserved in its original envelope which is affixed to the rear paste-down, 7 heliotype plates by O. G. Rejlander (3 folding, all numbered in Arabic and with 'Heliotype' not cropped), numerous wood-engraved illustrations, 4pp. publisher's catalogue at end dated November 1872, short nick in upper margin of B1, some foxing to verso of plate 1 and adjacent page, occasional very minor spots elsewhere, publisher's green cloth, spine gilt, extremities rubbed, one small water spot to upper cover, short nicks to spine ends, joints wearing (slight split at foot of upper joint, hinge split internally), [Freeman 1142; Garrison-Morton 4975; Norman 600], 8vo (182 x 122mm.), John Murray, 1872 (2)Footnotes"A MOST THRILLING TOKEN OF THE VERY MANY JOYFUL DAYS WHICH I OWE TO YOUR FAMILY" - DARWIN SENDS A PRESENTATION COPY TO ONE OF HIS OLD SHROPSHIRE FRIENDS.
Arthur Mostyn Owen (1813–1896, of Woodhouse, Shropshire) and his family were great friends of the Darwin and Wedgwood families during Charles' youth, when he regularly visited the estate to shoot with Arthur and his brothers, and got to know the two sisters, Sarah and Fanny Mostyn Owen. On the evidence of letters from the period, Darwin seems to have been on romantic terms with both sisters, until he graduated and set off on the Beagle whilst the sisters got married, Sarah to Thomas Haliburton in 1831, and Fanny to the politician Robert Biddulph in 1832. In his later years Darwin sought to reconnect with the sisters and corresponded with Sarah Haliburton, who in 1872 was one of the recipients of a presentation copy of The Expression of the Emotions. This must have prompted Arthur to write to Darwin some seven months later, and he in turn was sent a copy.
Written on Down House headed note paper and dated 23 May, Darwin's four-page letter here opens with him reminiscing about their shooting days at Woodhouse, lamenting the fact that he is too ill to travel let alone shoot, and expressing his continuing feelings of guilt over a shooting accident all those years ago ("I shall never forget that very unpleasant, indeed I may call it horrid day when a shot from my gun entered your eye"). After politely declining Arthur's offer of a portrait, writing that "it must be a copy of Richmond's, which we possess (& a poor affair it is)", he turns to the other part of the suggested exchange: "I would with pleasure send you my 'Descent of Man', but... my Origin of Species ought to be read first. I have, however, lately published a book on the 'Expression of the Emotions in Man & Animals'... I will direct my publisher to send you a copy".
The letter, tucked into its envelope at the rear of the volume, is described by the Darwin Correspondence Project as not having been found. But it can now fill the gap between Arthur's two letters to Darwin of 21 May and 28 May 1872, published by the Project as 'nos. 8917 and 8926'. The first sees Mostyn Owen writing to Darwin for the first time in many years. Having come across a portrait painted by Fanny in their Woodhouse days, he suggests that "if you like to have it I will send it to you--& in return you shall send me the book you have written (people say) to prove our relationship to the monkey tribe". In Arthur's letter of 28 May, he thanks Darwin for the book, and suggests there is a queue in the family to read it. Regarding his eye, he answers that it did give him some trouble, but that in conjunction with rubbing the area with cayenne pepper, it did help to get him added leave of absence whilst serving in India.
Following on from The Descent of Man, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals "is an important member of the evolutionary set, and it was written, in part at least, as a confutation of the idea that the facial muscles of expression in man were a special endowment" (Freeman). The only book Darwin illustrated with photographs, it heralded the foundation "of the study of ethology (animal behaviour) and conveyance of information (communication theory) and made a major contribution to psychology" (DSB).
This copy is Freeman's second issue, with three preliminary leaves only, "htat" in the first line on p.208, and the last signatures being 2B1 and 2C4. The numbering of the plates is in Arabic rather than Roman, but no priority seems to have been established.
Provenance: Arthur Mostyn Owen, recipient of the letter and his ownership inscriptions in the book; and thence by descent to the present owner.