# Is "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" by Charles Darwin a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals by Charles Darwin (John Murray, 1872) is identified by: First edition, first issue (Freeman 1142), collating vi, 374, [4] pages of publisher's advertisements dated November 1872, from an edition of 7,000 copies published 26 November 1872.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first issue (Freeman 1142), collating vi, 374, [4] pages of publisher's advertisements dated November 1872, from an edition of 7,000 copies published 26 November 1872
- Illustrated with 7 heliotype photographic plates (the first, second, and sixth folding) plus numerous wood-engraved text figures
- The first issue lacks the misprint 'htat' for 'that' on the first line of page 208
- Murray's second issue, printed later the same year, has the misprint
- Bound in publisher's green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, boards blind-panelled, with black endpapers
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Darwin |
| Publisher | John Murray |
| Year | 1872 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first issue (Freeman 1142), collating vi, 374, [4] pages of publisher's advertisements dated November 1872, from an edition… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first issue (Freeman 1142), collating vi, 374, [4] pages of publisher's advertisements dated November 1872, from an edition of 7,000 copies published 26 November 1872. Illustrated with 7 heliotype photographic plates (the first, second, and sixth folding) plus numerous wood-engraved text figures. The first issue lacks the misprint 'htat' for 'that' on the first line of page 208; Murray's second issue, printed later the same year, has the misprint. Bound in publisher's green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, boards blind-panelled, with black endpapers.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1890 second edition, edited posthumously by Francis Darwin, adds notes Charles Darwin had accumulated but not used in his lifetime, plus Francis's own bracketed footnotes; resettings dated 1901 and 1905 are textually unchanged from 1890 but are not the 1872 first-edition text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals* by Charles Darwin a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-expression-of-the-emotions-in-man-and-animals
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.