Early in 2009 Cambridge University Press published The Cambridge Companion to the 'Origin of Species,' edited by Michael Ruse and Robert J. As a result of this fame, a great deal of historical research has been concentrated on this work. It is also perhaps the most published book in the history of science and the most translated book originally published in English. On the Origin of Species is undoubtedly the most famous book in the history of the life sciences, and one of the world's most famous books on any subject. The book was offered to booksellers two days earlier on November 22, and oversubscribed by 250 copies causing John Murray to propose a new edition immediately. Following Darwin's instructions, these presentation copies were sent out by the publisher, usually inscribed 'From the Author' by the publisher's clerk. 1250 copies were printed, of which about 1,170 were available for sale the remainder consisted of 12 author's copies, 41 review copies, 5 copyright copies, and 'Darwin required ninety copies to be sent as presentations to friends, family, and scientists ' (Kohler & Kohler, see below, 333).

There is only one issue of the first edition of On the Origin of Species, and although three cloth binding and advertisement variants have been identified, no priority has been established. Since its publication the scientific evidence supporting evolution by natural selection has reached a massive-even overwhelming- preponderance, yet the controversy over evolution has never abated. Though Darwin stated his case for evolution by natural selection persuasively and in the most diplomatic of tones, the work evoked a storm of controversy, causing Darwin to revise it through six editions during his lifetime. Darwin's work contained only a single illustration- a branching evolutionary tree, the first known presketch of which appears in Darwin's notebooks in 1839. Darwin's great achievement was to make this centuries-old 'underground' concept acceptable to the scientific community and educated readers by cogently arguing for the existence of a viable mechanism- natural selection- by which new species evolve over vast periods of time. The idea of species evolution can be traced as far back as the ancient Greek belief in the 'great chain of being'. From its original publication, through the early years of the twenty-first century, this work remained one of the most widely appreciated, or disputed, classics in the history of science. On NovemCharles Darwin issued through the London publisher, John Murray, his book entitled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.

The origin of species full title