The Security Chair of ILAB recently issued the following alert:
Recently several ILAB members have noticed a purported ‘presentation copy’ of the first edition of the ‘Origin of Species’, inscribed by Charles Darwin, that was offered for sale in New England. The inscription reads ‘Yours faithfully – Ch Darwin’. If authentic it would be the only known copy of the first edition of the ‘Origin’ inscribed by Darwin. However, the inscription is in fact a concoction taken from a Darwin letter of April 12, 1874, in the University of Missouri, easily accessible online. ILAB members should be on the alert if they are offered, or have been involved in handling this copy.