A handwritten page from the concluding chapter of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species is selling at Nate D Sanders.
It’s valued at $675,000+.
Darwin’s theory of evolution was a huge scientific breakthrough.
The page originates from the November 1859 first edition draft
The book was enormously popular, selling out its first edition immediately and cycling through five more over the course of Darwin’s life.
This passage is likely to appeal to collectors as it includes reference to the great question – why are we here?
It reads in part: ''I have now recapitulated the chief facts and considerations, which have thoroughly convinced me that species have been modified, during a long course of descent, by the preservation on the natural selection of many successive slight favourable variations.
“I cannot believe that a false theory would explain, as it seems to me that the theory of natural selection does explain, the several large classes of facts above specified.
“It is no valid objection that science as yet throws no light on the far higher problem of the essence or origin of life.”
Amelia Earhart’s signed certificate of landing for her first transatlantic flight (the first completed by a woman) is also featured, with an estimate in excess of $350,000.
Earhart had intended to make it to Paris, but poor weather and a series of mechanical problems forced her to set her plane down in a field on the outskirts of Derry, Ireland.
The paper is addressed to the National Aeronautic Association and was filled out shortly after she landed.
The auction closes on March 30.
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