On the Origin of Species the manuscript for his "big book" on Species, "Natural Selection". By mid March 1859 Darwin's abstract had reached the stage where he was thinking of early publication; Lyell suggested the publisher John Murray, and met with him to find if he would be willing to publish. On 28 March Darwin wrote to Lyell asking about progress, and offering to give Murray assurances "that my Book is not more "un"-orthodox, than the subject makes inevitable." He enclosed a draft title sheet proposing "An abstract of an Essay on the Origin of Species and Varieties Through natural selection", with the year shown
Genetics and the Origin of Species revive the Jesup lectures, a series that had involved some notable lecturers in the past. It was back-dated so that Dobzhansky's lectures became the first in the series. The Columbia University Biological Series was also revived, and when "Genetics and the Origin of Species" was published in October 1937 it became the 11th volume in that series. Three main editions were published, in 1937, 1941 and 1951, each with significant changes. Dobzhansky considered "Genetics of the Evolutionary Process" (1970) a fourth edition, but one so much changed that it needed a new title. "Genetics and the Origin of Species" has