The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 15, 1867

During 1867 Darwin intensified lines of research on human expression and sexual selection.

Charles Darwin (Author), Frederick Burkhardt (Edited by), James Secord (Edited by), The Editors of the Darwin Correspondence Project (Edited by)

9780521859318, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 2006

750 pages, 15 b/w illus.
24 x 16.5 x 4.3 cm, 1.198 kg

'The most recent volumes of Darwin's correspondence shed new light on the complex question of the origin's reception and Darwin's responses to his critics … they allow us to see Darwin in his proper historical context … The story … is a more subtle complex and ultimately much more interesting one than those invented by the myth-makers … The letters also tell us so much about Victorian attitudes and society, and serve as a useful reminder that neither Darwin's story nor that of the Origin finishes in 1859, demonstrating why the eventual publication of all Darwin's correspondence is going to be so useful.' The Times Literary Supplement

During 1867 Darwin intensified lines of research that were to result in two important publications, Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex and Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. Darwin circulated a questionnaire on human expression, asking his established contacts to pass it on to their acquaintances, with the result that he began to receive letters from an even more diverse and far-flung network of correspondents than had previously been the case. Convinced that human descent was strongly influenced by sexual selection, he also started to ask his correspondents about sexual differences in animals and birds. At the same time, he was working on the proof-sheets of another major work, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, while negotiating almost weekly with French, German, and Russian translators. For information on the Charles Darwin Correspondence Project, see http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/Departments/Darwin.

List of illustrations
List of letters
Introduction
Acknowledgments
List of provenances
Note on editorial policy
Darwin/Wedgwood genealogy
Abbreviations and symbols
THE CORRESPONDENCE
Appendixes: I. Translations, II. Chronology, III. Diplomas, IV. Darwin's queries about expression
Manuscript alterations and comments
Biographical register and index to correspondents
Bibliography
Notes on manuscript sources
Index.

Subject Areas: Evolution [PSAJ]