Darwin Correspondence Project |

Meet the correspondents

YARRELL-W-01-05275.jpg William Yarrell	BECKER-L-E-01-00356.jpg Lydia Becker	FITZROY-R-01-05660.jpg Robert FitzRoy	CRICHTON-BROWNE-J-01-00677.jpg James Crichton-Browne
MULLER-J-F-T-01-03070.jpg Fritz Müller	GALTON-F-01-01797.jpg Francis Galton	Philip Gidley King.jpg Philip Gidley King	GARRETT-ANDERSON-E-01-00104.jpg Elizabeth Garrett Anderson

In 1831, Darwin joined a voyage that he later referred to ‘as by far the most important event in my life’. To celebrate the 212th anniversary of Darwin's birth, dive in to our 3D model of the Beagle and find out more about life on board and the adventures that he had, and read Darwin's 1878 letters now released online for the first time.

Part of letter from Fanny Owen, [late January 1828] (DAR 204: 43)

Cambridge University Library

Darwin’s first love

Darwin’s long marriage to Emma Wedgwood is well documented, but was there an earlier romance in his life? How was his departure on the Beagle entangled with his first love? The answers are revealed in a series of flirtatious letters that Darwin was supposed to destroy.

Darwin's study, view of his armchair and table

Darwin and working from home

Ever wondered how Darwin worked? As part of our For the Curious series of simple interactives, ‘Darwin working from home’ lets you explore objects from Darwin’s study and garden at Down House to learn how he worked and what he had to say about it. And not all his work days were successful, here are some letters about Darwin's bad days.

Darwin's works in letters

Another present for Darwin's birthday: five new pages are added to our Works in letters section on the 'big book' before Origin, Origin itself, the subsequent editions of Origin, Orchids, and the Life of Erasmus Darwin. These complement our existing pages on Journal of researches, Living and fossil cirripedia, Descent of man, Expression of emotions, and Insectivorous plants (accompanied by this song with lyrics based on Darwin's letters).

Bernard Darwin, May 1878. Papers of Nora Barlow, CUL MS Add 8904.4: 1158

By permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

Darwn's letters from 1878 online

Investigating the movements and 'sleep' of plants, being entertained by the mental faculties of his young grandson Bernard, finally elected a corresponding member of the French Académie des sciences, trying to secure a government grant to support an Irish correspondent's attempts to breed a blight-resistant potato... and a complete stranger proposed to leave him a large bequest in recognition of his work in science. The transcripts and footnotes of over 550 letters written to and from Darwin in 1878 are now online. Read more about Darwin's life in 1878 and see a full list of the letters.

Photograph of experiment on movement in plants: probably Averrhoa bilimbi.

DAR 209.15: 20

By permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library

1877 letters now online

Flowers, bloom, a son married . . . and a suspended monkey in Cambridge at Darwin's honorary LLD ceremony. The transcripts and footnotes of over 600 letters written to and from Darwin in 1877 are now online. Read more about Darwin's life in 1877 and see a full list of the letters.

Volume 27 (1879) now published

In 1879, Darwin continued his research on movement in plants and researched, wrote, and published a short biography of his grandfather Erasmus Darwin as an introduction to a translation of an essay by Ernst Krause on Erasmus’s scientific work. Darwin’s son Francis spent a second summer at the Botanical Institute in Würzburg, Germany, learning the latest experimental techniques in plant physiology. As well as their regular tour of visits to family, the Darwins spent most of August on holiday in the Lake District. In October, Darwin’s youngest son, Horace, became officially engaged to Ida Farrer, after some initial resistance from her father, who, although an admirer of Charles Darwin, thought Horace a poor prospect for his daughter. Volume 27 of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin is now available. Read more about Darwin's life in 1879.

* Letter to J. D. Hooker, [10-11 November 1844]

Image based on a caricature by George Montbard, Cambridge University Library, DAR 225: 178

Hunt for new letters: last chance!

Think you know of a letter to or from Darwin that we haven’t found? Let us know!

Although we already know of more than 15,000 letters that Darwin exchanged with nearly 2000 correspondents around the world, letters continue to come to light in both public and private collections, and we rely on the goodwill and support of archivists, collectors, scholars, and families around the world to make the corpus as complete as possible. The letters inform and are informed by one another, and our ability to understand the whole is increased with every letter we are able to add.

George Howard Darwin

CUL DAR 225: 45

Cambridge University Library

Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex

The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the structure and behaviour of other animals more extensively, and to further this programme, he re-established links with specialists who had provided assistance. Considerable correspondence was generated by the long-awaited publication of Variation in animals and plants under domestication. Having been advertised by the publisher John Murray as early as 1865, the two-volume work appeared in January 1868.

The evolution of honeycomb

Honeycombs are natural engineering marvels, using the least possible amount of wax to provide the greatest amount of storage space, with the greatest possible structural stability. Darwin recognised that explaining the evolution of the honey-bee’s comb-building abilities was essential if his theory of natural selection was to be taken seriously, and in the 1850s he carried out his own experiments at his home at Down House in Kent, and exchanged many letters on the subject. One correspondent even drew an ingenious analogy with a plum pie - you can try this at home!

Lifecycle of a letter film

Darwin Correpondence Project staff discuss their work on the project and some of the challenges of finding, transcribing, translating and editing letters.

Tweets by @MyDearDarwin

Read and search the full texts of more than 12,000 of Charles Darwin’s letters, and ﬁnd information on 3,000 more. Discover complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1878.

Darwin for Schools

Discover our new and improved schools resources for 11-14 year olds.

Visit the schools section

Darwin's letters: a timeline

Explore the letters to and from Charles Darwin over time

MS-DAR-00219-00012-000-00009.jpg

Some of the Darwin’s relaxing at Down House
CUL DAR 219.12: 9
Cambridge University Library

Home and family
Darwin-Geology.jpg

Some of Darwin's geological drawings
after CUL DAR 44: 13 & 33
Cambridge University Library

Geology
Origin-Spines.jpg

http://wellcomeimages.org/
6 editions of 'The Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin
L0051092
Wellcome Library, London
CC BY 4.0

Origin
MS-ADD-07984-000-00031.jpg

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-07984/31
The Adventure and Beagle at Point Punta Arenas and Isla de Cochinos, Chiloé, by Conrad Martens
CUL Add. 7984: 19
Cambridge University Library

Voyage of HMS Beagle
Darwin-Human-Nature.jpg

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00053-00001
Darwin and human nature - Expression photos
after CUL DAR 53.1: C38r, C52r, C72r & C74r
Cambridge University Library

Human nature
MS-DAR-00121-000-p36-Tree-of-Life.jpg

Darwin's Tree of Life sketch from his “B” notebook on Transmutation of Species
CUL DAR 121, page 36
Cambridge University Library

Evolution

Darwin Correspondence Project

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Meet the correspondents

Darwin for Schools

Darwin's letters: a timeline