Poems. HUXLEY, Henrietta A., & Thomas.

First edition, presented by Henrietta Huxley to Darwin's daughter and then from her to the Working Men's College in Great Ormond Street, where Thomas Henry Huxley taught in the 1880s. Henrietta Litchfield (1843-1927), Darwin's eldest daughter to reach adulthood, was a valued part of his intellectual process: he discussed his theories with her and judged her "a first rate critic". Henrietta later helped Darwin edit his Descent of Man and made some judicious alterations to the Autobiography after his death. Like her husband, Henrietta Anne Huxley (1825-1914) was a fervent and confident supporter of Darwinism. In their correspondence, Darwin mis-identified a Tennyson quotation: Henrietta replied that "if the "facts?!" in the Origin of Species are of this sort, I agree with the Bishop of Oxford!" (quoted in Evans, p. 7). Her inscription "To Henrietta Litchfield, from the writer, with her love, Hodeslea Eastbourne, June 25th 1913" is on the initial blank verso. The volume posthumously publishes three poems by Thomas Henry Huxley. Poetry was key to Huxley's wider worldview: Adrian Desmond distinguishes Huxley from Darwin by his view of nature itself as a "poem" (ODNB). The 1913 wood-engraved bookplate of the Working Men's College, with Henrietta Litchfield's type-written name, is on the front pastedown. The college's library regulations slip is on the front free endpaper, while their ink stamp is on the covers, lower edge, initial blank, half-title, title page, and 11 pages of the contents. Samantha Evans, ed., Darwin and Women: A Selection of Letters, 2017. Duodecimo. Wood-engraved publisher's device to title page. Original green quarter buckram, spine lettered in gilt, brown buckram covers, rear cover with publisher's device blocked in blind, top edge gilt. Light rubbing and toning, remnants of shelf label to foot of spine, minor browning and toning, a spot of soiling to margins of pp. 26-7: a very good copy.