The Origin of Species: The Five Foot Shelf of Classics, Vol. XI (in 51 Volumes)

Charles Darwin

Mar 2010 · Cosimo, Inc.

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Originally published between 1909 and 1917 under the name "Harvard Classics," this stupendous 51-volume set-a collection of the greatest writings from literature, philosophy, history, and mythology-was assembled by American academic CHARLES WILLIAM ELIOT (1834-1926), Harvard University's longest-serving president. Also known as "Dr. Eliot's Five Foot Shelf," it represented Eliot's belief that a basic liberal education could be gleaned by reading from an anthology of works that could fit on five feet of bookshelf. Volume XI features the revolutionary work of scientific philosophy from English scientist, naturalist, and geologist CHARLES DARWIN (1809-1882). First published in 1859, On the Origin of Species is the seminal work of modern biology, positing the mechanism by which evolution operates... as easily observed even in Darwin's time in the breeding of farm animals, and as confirmed today through numerous lines of scientific inquiry. One of the most important books ever written, it transformed our understanding of the planet and our place on it.

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Charles Robert Darwin, born in 1809, was an English naturalist who founded the theory of Darwinism, the belief in evolution as determined by natural selection. Although Darwin studied medicine at Edinburgh University, and then studied at Cambridge University to become a minister, he had been interested in natural history all his life. His grandfather, Erasmus Darwin, was a noted English poet, physician, and botanist who was interested in evolutionary development. Darwin's works have had an incalculable effect on all aspects of the modern thought. Darwin's most famous and influential work, On the Origin of Species, provoked immediate controversy. Darwin's other books include Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. Charles Darwin died in 1882.