It is now fully recognized that the publication of Darwin's Origin of Species in 1859 brought about a revolution in man's attitude toward life and his own place in the universe. This work is rightly regarded as one of the most important books ever published, and a knowledge of it should be part of the intellectual equipment of every educated person. The book remains surprisingly modern in its assertions and is also remarkably accessible to the layman, much more so than recent treatises necessarily encumbered with technical language and professional jargon. </p>

This first edition had a freshness and uncompromising directness that were considerably weakened in later editions, and yet nearly all available reprints of the work are based on the greatly modified sixth edition of 1872. In the only other modern reprinting of the first edition, the pagination was changed, so that it is impossible to give page references to significant passages in the original. Clearly this facsimile reprint of the momentous first edition fills a need for scholars and general readers alike. </p>

達爾文(Charles Robert Darwin，1809－1882)英國博物學傢，進化論的奠基人。1809年2月12日，齣生於英國醫生傢庭。1825年至1828年在愛丁大學學醫，後進入劍橋大學學習神學。1831年從劍橋大學畢業後，以博物學傢的身份乘海軍勘探船“貝格爾號(Beagle)”作曆時5年(1831－1836)的環球旅行，觀察和搜集瞭動物、植物和地質等方麵的大量材料，經過歸納整理和綜閤分析，形成瞭生物進行的概念。1859年齣版《物種起源(On the Origin of Species)》一書，全麵提齣以自然選擇(Theoty of Natural Selection)為基礎的進化學說。該書齣版震動當時的學術界，成為生物學史上的一個轉摺點。自然選擇的進化學說對各種唯心的神造論、目的論和物種不變論提齣根本性的挑戰。使當時生物學各領域已經形成的概念和觀念發生根本性的改變。隨後達爾文又發錶瞭《動物和植物在傢養下的變異(The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication ，1868)》、《人類由來及性的選擇(The Descent of Man ，1871)》和《人類和動物的錶情(The Expression of the Emotions in Animals and Man，1872)》等書，對人工選擇作瞭係統的敘述，並提齣性選擇及人類起源的理論，進一步充實瞭進化學說的內容。