# Is "The Fertilisation of Orchids" by Charles Darwin a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Fertilisation of Orchids by Charles Darwin (John Murray, 1862) is identified by: First edition (Freeman 800), published 15 May 1862 under the full title On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition (Freeman 800), published 15 May 1862 under the full title On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing
- Collates vi, 365, [1] pages, illustrated with one folding plate (Figure I) and 33 wood-engraved text figures (II-XXXIV)
- The earliest state (Freeman's variant 'a') is bound in vertically lined plum cloth and carries Murray's 32-page catalogue of advertisements dated December 1861 bound in at the rear; a later state of the same first-edition sheets (variant 'b') is instead bound in plum diaper-grain cloth with brown-coated endpapers and advertisements dated as late as September 1871
- Boards are blind-panelled with an orchid stamped in gilt at the center of the front board and the spine lettered and decorated in gilt; uniquely among Murray's Darwin bindings of 1859-1910, the cloth is plum rather than green
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Darwin |
| Publisher | John Murray |
| Year | 1862 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition (Freeman 800), published 15 May 1862 under the full title On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition (Freeman 800), published 15 May 1862 under the full title On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, and on the Good Effects of Intercrossing. Collates vi, 365, [1] pages, illustrated with one folding plate (Figure I) and 33 wood-engraved text figures (II-XXXIV). The earliest state (Freeman's variant 'a') is bound in vertically lined plum cloth and carries Murray's 32-page catalogue of advertisements dated December 1861 bound in at the rear; a later state of the same first-edition sheets (variant 'b') is instead bound in plum diaper-grain cloth with brown-coated endpapers and advertisements dated as late as September 1871. Boards are blind-panelled with an orchid stamped in gilt at the center of the front board and the spine lettered and decorated in gilt; uniquely among Murray's Darwin bindings of 1859-1910, the cloth is plum rather than green.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The heavily revised second edition (1877) shortens the title to The Various Contrivances by which Orchids are Fertilised by Insects, dropping the opening 'On,' 'British and Foreign,' and the closing clause on intercrossing, and incorporates new material including additions drawn from Darwin's 1869 French edition; it is a different, later text, not a reprint of the 1862 book.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Fertilisation of Orchids* by Charles Darwin a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-fertilisation-of-orchids
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.