FIRST HUNGARIAN TRANSLATION OF DARWIN'S "THE DESCENT OF MAN"

DARWIN, CHARLES.

Az Ember Származàsa és az Ivari Kiválás [i.e. Hungarian: "The Descent of Man."]. [Translated by:] Török Aurei és Entz Géza. 2 vols.

Budapest, Kiadja A. K. M., 1884. 8vo. In the publisher's original two embossed full red cloth bindings with gilt lettering to spine. Small vague stamp to both half-titles. Hindges loose on volume i. A fine fine and clean copy. LXXI, (1), 542 pp.; VII, 5, 436 pp.

The exceedingly rare first Hungarian translation of Darwin's The Descent of Man. "Compared with the original and with a biography by Margó Tivador" (Freeman).

The Hungarian public was introduced to Darwinism early on when Ferenc Jánosi reviewed The Origin of Species in the Budapesti Szemle (Budapest Review) a half year after it first appeared in English. Darwin's principal works were first published in Hungarian translation by the Royal Hungarian Natural Science Society (Királyi Magyar Természettudományi Társulat). The Origin of Species, translated by László Dapsy, was published in 1873; The present work in 1884 and a few years later, in 1897, the latter work was translated anew and published by László Seress.

"It is characteristic of the enlightened spirit of the country in this period that Darwin received academic recognition earlier in Hungary than in England. Although Cambridge did not honor Darwin until 1879, he was elected an honorary member of The Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1872, the same year on this occasion the renowned Hungarian zoologist Tivadar Margó visited him at Down.
Historical circumstances played a major role in this quick appearance of Darwinism and its popularity in Hungary. The failure of the 1848-49 revolution and war of independence seemingly put an end to progressive political discourse, signaling an ideological crisis among the intelligentsia. In this context, the natural sciences with their 'eternal truths' promised a way out, inasmuch as science's promised objectivity might well serve as a politically neutral expression of progressive values" (Mund, The Reception of Charles Darwin in Nineteenth-Century Hungarian Society).

"Darwin wrote, in the preface to the second edition, of 'the fiery ordeal through which this book has passed'. He had avoided the logical outcome of the general theory of evolution, bringing man into the scheme, for twelve years, and in fact it had, by that time, been so much accepted that the clamour of the opposition was not strident. He had also been preceded in 1863 by Huxley's Man's place in nature. The book, in its first edition, contains two parts, the descent of man itself, and selection in relation to sex. The word 'evolution' occurs, for the first time in any of Darwin's works, on page 2 of the first volume of the first edition, that is to say before its appearance in the sixth edition of The origin of species in the following year." (Freeman).

Freeman no. 1084.

Order-nr.: 53520