The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 1, 1821–1836

This volume inaugurates a complete edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. The first volume of the edition contains the letters of the years 1821–1836.

Charles Darwin (Author), Frederick Burkhardt (Edited by), Sydney Smith (Edited by), David Kohn (Associate editor), William Montgomery (Associate editor)

9780521255875, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 March 1985

752 pages
24.2 x 16.5 x 4.5 cm, 1.26 kg

"What more can be said of the continuation of this already f amous edition of Darwin's letters, than to repeat that it fully meets the meticulous and thorough scholarship of the four volumes that have preceded it?" The Quarterly Review of Biology

This volume inaugurates a complete edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. For the first time full authoritative texts of Darwin's letters are available, edited according to modern textual editorial principles and practice. The first volume of the edition contains the letters of the years 1821–1836. They begin with one written to Darwin at the age of twelve and continue through his school days at Shrewsbury, his two years as a medical student at Edinburgh, the undergraduate years at Cambridge, and his five years of exploration and learning during the voyage of the Beagle. These were Darwin's years of initiation and preparation for a life of science. In the earliest letters Darwin appears already keenly interested in natural history and an avid collector of minerals, plants, marine invertebrates, and insects - especially beetles. The letters of the succeeding years tell the story of the young Darwin's development up to his return to England when, at the age of twenty-seven, he was received as a colleague by Charles Lyell, Adam Sedgwick, and other leading scientists, who had already heard of his discoveries and observations during the Beagle voyage.

List of illustrations
List of letters
Introduction
Acknowledgments
List of provenances
Note on editorial policy
Darwin/Wedgwood genealogy
Abbreviations and symbols
The correspondence, 1821–36
Appendixes
Manuscript alterations and comments
Bibliography
Biography
Biographical register and index to correspondents
Index.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ], History of science [PDX]