Beschreibung:

DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882). Insectivorous Plants . London: John Murray 1875. 8° (183 x 121mm). 30 wood-engravings in text. (Half-title spotted, title faintly spotted and creased, block split at Y1.) Original green cloth, covers with blind frame, gilt spine (rubbed at extremities, lower corners bumped, inner hinges split). Provenance : PRESENTATION COPY TO HIS SISTER, CAROLINE (half-title inscribed "From the author" in a clerical hand; title with initials "C.S.W." at head). FIRST EDITION, PRESENTED TO CAROLINE WEDGWOOD. After conducting some early experiments on Drosera or the common sun-dew in 1860, Darwin resumed a serious interest in insect-catching plants in 1872. Desmond and Moore paint an amusing picture of him busily amassing 'fly-traps, bladderworts and butterworts' who were 'wined, dined, and poisoned. They arrived from around the world to be held on remand in the garden hot-house. They presented a rogues' gallery in their pots, displaying every devious means of gluing, trapping and drowning their prey. As the experiments proceeded he began writing Insectivorous Plants . Inevitably the strain proved too much' ( Darwin , p. 597). But if Darwin had become 'trapped on a literary treadmill, walking faster and faster towards the grave', it is all the more remarkable that he could sustain the effort. Insectivorous Plants was published on 2 July, 1875, Darwin's sons, George and Francis, contributing illustrations. Despite being a poor draughtsman, he himself drew figures 7 and 8. Freeman 1217; Norman 601.