First and Sixth...

I learned something new recently...well, I learn new things pretty much every day, which is one of the great things about the book business...but this is particularly neat. If you wish to collect Darwin's Origin of Species, you should acquire both the First and Sixth edition. This is because the first edition was, well, the first edition...however Darwin was "rushed to press" and not very happy with the work product. The sixth edition was the last edition Darwin himself edited prior to his death. Thus if you really want to appreciate what Darwin was attempting to convey, or more importantly, to understand the evolution of his thinking, you need to compare the first with the sixth. I hope I have time, someday in the not too distant future, to read both.