The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 10, 1862

This new volume reflects a very productive year in the life of Charles Darwin.

Charles Darwin (Author), Frederick Burkhardt (Edited by), Joy Harvey (Edited by), Duncan M. Porter (Edited by), Jonathan R. Topham (Edited by)

9780521590327, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 12 June 1997

980 pages, 16 b/w illus.
24.2 x 16.5 x 5.4 cm, 1.66 kg

'With all of its detail, its ferreting out of the minutiae of biographical and institutional detail, its superb appendices and informative supplementary essays, its exhaustive indexing, multiple bibliographies and biographical registers, its elegant style, the project deserves the highest of praise. This is a love of scholarship that easily matches Darwin's own performance … These volumes are indeed details - the level of scholarship that goes into each and every letter is truly astonishing. The research is exemplary.' Gordon McOuat, Annals of Science

As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a very productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments he carried out. The promotion of his theory of natural selection also continued: Darwin's own work on it expanded, Thomas Henry Huxley gave lectures about it, and Henry Walter Bates invoked it to explain mimicry in butterflies. As well as monitoring the progress of his scientific work, the correspondence also records the continuing effects of Darwin's ill-health. Serious illness in two of his children also disrupts his work.

List of illustrations
List of letters
Introduction
Acknowledgments
List of provenances
Note on editorial policy
Darwin/Wedgwood genealogy
Abbreviations and symbols
The Correspondence, 1862
Appendixes
Manuscript alterations and comments
Bibliography
Notes on manuscript sources
Biographical register and index to correspondents
Index.

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