A page from Charles Darwin’s draft, working manuscript for On the Origin of Species… sold for a record £400,000 by Sotheby’s.
Two of only 11 leaves of the original, working manuscript of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species… known to remain in private hands were sold at auction in London last month.
Together with a copy of the first edition of the book that belonged to the brother of one of Darwin’s shipmates on HMS Beagle, they were among a small group of lots with a family provenance offered as part of a Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) sale of July 9-10.