THE EFFECTS OF CROSS AND SELF FERTILISATION IN THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. FIRST EDITION. by Darwin, Charles - 1876

London: John Murray, 1876. viii, 482 pp, small 8vo (7 3/8" H), leather spine with 5 raised bands, black leather title label, gilt lettering & decoration, leather corners, marbled-paper covered boards, marbling to all edges of text block. Marbled endpapers. List of other titles by Darwin on verso of title page. Errata slip laid in following "Contents". "(Darwin's report) on experiments conducted on over 60 different species of plants, where he used controlled pollinations in order to produce self-fertilised and cross-fertilised descendants. Through growth experiments of this progeny, he concluded that self-fertilised progeny performed poorer in most species and for most traits measured. Thus he showed that inbreeding may have severe detrimental effects on progeny. While this idea was accepted by many, e.g. plant and animal breeders, Darwin's book provided overwhelming experimental support for this idea. This book has remained the starting point for the study of inbreeding and is cited in scientific papers to this effect to this day." A few scattered tiny foxing marks on verso of free endpapers and on adjacent pages, small piece missing from bottom corner of page leaf 399/400, some gilt lettering and decorarion on the spine has faded slightly (not on spine label), darkening to top of text block, light to moderate edge wear to boards/corners, small areas of flaking to leather on hinges, light wear/very small bump at top of spine, a small bump at top edge of both boards near hinges, red leather on spine and somewhat at corners has faded to light brown.. First Edition.. Half-Leather. Very Good-.