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Darwin, Charles.
The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs.
Publisher: Smith, Elder, & Co., 15 Waterloo Place, London;
Date of Publication: 1889
Stock Code: 15505
Third edition, after the first of 1842. Octavo, pp., xx, 344, [2] advertisements, plus 3 folding plates, and 8 woodcuts within text, as called for. Publisher’s original forest green cloth; titled in gilt to spine; panels in blind to boards; brown end-papers. Top edge dusty; joints a touch rubbed; shelf-wear to extremities; binding otherwise strong and square. Creases and minor nicks to second and third plates; a few minor spots to first plates; a few spots to contents, else clean. A very good copy. Originally the first part of Darwin’s ‘Geology of the Beagle’ as Darwin’s first monograph, the author significantly revised ‘Coral Reefs’ in the second edition of 1874. This third edition was edited by T. G. Bonney to the extent of adding new footnotes and a significant appendix. Francis Darwin praised Bonney’s efforts in the preface to this edition. The result is an improved version of Darwin’s fullest statement on the formation of coral reefs, drawn from observations not only on the Voyage of the Beagle, but from around the world. £350.00