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From J. D. Hooker   [after 11 December 1854]

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Summary

List of most anomalous Leguminosae [from George Bentham].

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [after 11 Dec 1854]
Classmark:  DAR 205.9: 391
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1546

To Fanny Mackintosh Wedgwood   18 [August 1854]

Summary

Thanks for writing about E. A. Darwin’s illness. Will never forget the comfort she was [when Anne Darwin died, 1851].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Frances Emma Elizabeth (Fanny) Mackintosh; Frances Emma Elizabeth (Fanny) Wedgwood
Date:  18 [Aug 1854]
Classmark:  Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1547

To J. A. H. de Bosquet   19 January [1854]

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Summary

Further comments on JAHdeB’s MS.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Augustin Hubert de Bosquet
Date:  19 Jan [1854]
Classmark:  DAR 143: 130
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1548

To the Ray Society   [before 23 January 1854]

Summary

"A letter having been read from Mr. Darwin stating that the MSS of the 2nd vol. of his work [Living Cirripedia] extended to 900 pages it was resolved that the whole be published in one volume."

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Ray Society
Date:  [before 23 Jan 1854]
Classmark:  Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (General Library MSS RAY)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1549

To Edward Sabine   31 January [1854]

Summary

Declines the honour of writing a biography of Leopold von Buch, on grounds that he would not do it well; nor does he hold Buch so high as the world at large does.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Edward Sabine
Date:  31 Jan [1854]
Classmark:  The Royal Society (Sa: 389)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1550

To Edward Sabine   5 February [1854]

Summary

Thanks ES for his note [missing]. CD had understood that what was wanted was a eulogy [of Leopold von Buch] combined with historical criticism, after the French practice. Agrees that historico-critical sketches of work of great foreigners have a place in Philosophical Transactions and wishes he had taste and capacity for it.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Edward Sabine
Date:  5 Feb [1854]
Classmark:  The Royal Society (Sa: 390)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1552

To J. D. Hooker   [9 or 16 February 1854]

Summary

Has received JDH’s book [Himalayan journals (1854)]. Is very gratified by the dedication to him.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  [9 or 16] Feb 1854
Classmark:  Oliver N. Hooker (private collection)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1552F

To Charles Lyell   18 February [1854]

Summary

Comments on CL’s plan to visit Tenerife.

Discusses inclination of strata on islands and around mountains.

Personal affairs of several scientists.

Visit by Henslow.

Notes publication by Hooker [Himalayan journals (1854)].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Charles Lyell, 1st baronet
Date:  18 Feb [1854]
Classmark:  American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.108)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1553

To J. S. Henslow   20 February [1854]

Summary

Honoured and gratified by the dedication [to CD] of Hooker’s book [Himalayan journals].

News of Lyell from Madeira.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Stevens Henslow
Date:  20 Feb [1854]
Classmark:  California State Library, San Francisco, Sutro Library (Crocker collection: folder #11)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1554

To P. G. King    21 February 1854

Summary

PGK’s letter stirred memories of their old days in the Beagle.

Gives news of his work on cirripedes. Would like to examine Scalpellum papillosum of King from Patagonia if PGK’s father has a duplicate in his collection.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Philip Gidley King
Date:  21 Feb 1854
Classmark:  Mitchell Library, Sydney (MLMSS 3447/2 Item 1)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1554A

To the Palaeontographical Society   [before 24 February 1854]

Summary

Letter from CD about a monograph of fossil Balanidae. Resolved that CD be asked to complete the monograph.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Palaeontographical Society
Date:  [before 24 Feb 1854]
Classmark:  British Geological Survey Archives (Palaeontographical Society minutes)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1555

To J. D. Hooker   1 March [1854]

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Summary

Thanks JDH for dedication of Himalayan journals. CD praises the work and suggests stylistic revisions.

Lyell’s remarks on lava beds in letter from Madeira are not original – they refer exclusively to Élie de Beaumont’s data.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  1 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  DAR 114: 118
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1556

From J. D. Hooker   [26 February 1854]

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Summary

Is relieved his book [Himalayan journals] has been well received and glad he has successfully completed it.

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [26 Feb 1854]
Classmark:  DAR 100: 86–9
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1557

To J. D. Hooker   10 March [1854]

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Summary

More praise for Himalayan journals.

How remote was glacial action in Himalayas?

Implies Himalayas were birthplace of many plants.

Final volume of Cirripedia to be printed in two or three months.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  10 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  DAR 114: 119
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1558

From J. D. Hooker   [c. 25 March 1854]

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Summary

JDH summarises letter from Humboldt.

JDH answers CD’s questions on glacial action in Himalayas.

Author:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Addressee:  Charles Robert Darwin
Date:  [c. 25 Mar 1854]
Classmark:  DAR 205.9: 382
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1559

To John Higgins   18 March [1854]

Summary

Discusses price of a farm.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Higgins
Date:  18 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/1/75)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1560

To John Higgins   23 March [1854]

Summary

Discusses investments.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Higgins
Date:  23 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  Lincolnshire Archives (HIG/4/2/1/76)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1561

To J. D. Hooker   26 March [1854]

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Summary

CD welcomes the prospect of the Philosophical Club of the Royal Society as means for seeing old acquaintances and making new ones. Will try to go up to London regularly.

Admits that the warning from JDH and Asa Gray (that more harm than good will come from combat over the species issue) makes him feel "deuced uncomfortable".

Reflects upon the complexity of Agassiz; how singular that a man of his eminence and immense knowledge "should write such wonderful stuff & bosh".

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  Joseph Dalton Hooker
Date:  26 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  DAR 114: 120
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1562

To J. W. Lubbock   28 March [1854]

Summary

Distressed to find himself in conflict with JWL on appointment of a Guardian [for the parish].

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John William Lubbock, 3d baronet
Date:  28 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  The Royal Society (LUB: D20)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1563

To J. E. Gray   28 March [1854]

Summary

Asks for parts of The zoology of the voyage of H.M.S. Erebus and Terror [1844–75].

Asks about the arrangement of cirripedes at the Museum; hopes JEG will keep CD’s names.

Author:  Charles Robert Darwin
Addressee:  John Edward Gray
Date:  28 Mar [1854]
Classmark:  Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (Zoology letters 2: 56)
Letter no:  DCP-LETT-1564
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Darwin in letters, 1851-1855: Death of a daughter

Summary

The letters from these years reveal the main preoccupations of Darwin’s life with a new intensity. The period opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin’s oldest and favourite daughter, Anne, and it shows how, weary and mourning his dead child,…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … cirripedes and culminated in  Living Cirripedia  (1854) and  Fossil Cirripedia  (1854), again …
  • … series of letters pertaining to the Royal Society. In April 1854, when his cirripede study was …
  • … in his health was indicated by his comment in a letter to Hooker on 29 [May 1854] : ‘Very far …
  • … Back to species theory In September 1854, as soon as the final proofs of the last barnacle …
  • … large-scale geological changes. As he told Hooker in a letter of 5 June [1855] , ‘it shocks my …
  • … he had written to Hooker ( Correspondence  vol. 4, letter to J. D. Hooker, 13 [June 1850] ), …
  • … interested in animal breeding. As Darwin told Fox in a letter of 27 March [1855] , the object of …
  • … do as I wish it Throughout the correspondence of 1854 and 1855, the overwhelming …
  • … ‘all nature is perverse & will not do as I wish it’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, 7 May [1855] ). But …

Scientific Practice

Summary

Specialism|Experiment|Microscopes|Collecting|Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of scientific communication, rather than as integral to knowledge making. This section shows how correspondence could help to shape the practice of science, from…

Matches: 25 hits

  • … | Microscopes | Collecting | Theory Letter writing is often seen as a part of …
  • … with detailed correspondence about barnacles. Letter 1514 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. …
  • … of one idea. – cirripedes morning & night.” Letter 1480 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, …
  • … of creation in [ Br. & Foreign Med.-Chir. Rev. 13 (1854)], but notes that he himself is …
  • … on embryological stages than Huxley thinks. Letter 1592 — Darwin, C. R. to Huxley, T. H …
  • … and difficulties of botanical experimentation. Letter 4895 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J …
  • … on Anelasma which he thinks seems probable. Letter 5173 — Müller, J. F. T. to …
  • … and on some plants which seem to be dichogamous. Letter 5429 — Müller, J. F. T. to …
  • … and crossed with pollen of other species. Letter 5480 — Müller, J. F. T. to Darwin, C. …
  • … Claus, Die freilebenden Copepoden [1863]. Letter 5551 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, J. …
  • … on the use and importance of the microscope. Letter 207 — Darwin, C. R. to Fox, W. D., …
  • … with a microscope ranks second only to geology. Letter 1018 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, …
  • … “take advantage of your wicked offer of assistance”. The letter is full of observations on barnacles …
  • … ed., Manual of scientific enquiry (1849)]. Letter 1167 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, …
  • … finds this microscope “wonderfully superior”. Letter 1174 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … specimens and information for his barnacle book. Letter 1140 — Darwin, C. R. to Ross, J …
  • … to the Arctic in search of Sir John Franklin. Letter 1262 — Darwin, C. R. to Hancock, …
  • … discusses Lithotrya and its burrowing habits. Letter 1495 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … at his collection to check on his suspicions. Letter 1370 — Darwin, C. R. to Covington, …
  • … only one specimen is known to exist in the world. Letter 1251 — Darwin, C. R. to Gould, …
  • … between theory and practice in natural history. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, …
  • … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
  • … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … with the former and deferring the species paper. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
  • … have progressed but Hooker is not converted. Letter 1339 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …

Darwin’s reading notebooks

Summary

In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to read in Notebook C (Notebooks, pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in separate notebooks. The first of these reading notebooks (DAR 119…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … [Wellesley 1832] Sir. W. Nott’s Life [W. Nott 1854].— [DAR *119: 15v.] From …
  • … M rs  Fry’s Life [Fry 1847] Horace Walpoles letter to C t . of Ossory [Walpole 1848] …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … de la Boheme [Barrande 1852–1911] must be deeply studied 1854 The Zoologist by E. Newman [ …
  • … [Pepys 1825] (Read).— Sir W. Notts life [W. Nott 1854] read [DAR *128: 177] …
  • … r . Nott & Gliddon: Trübner & Co [J. C. Nott and Gliddon 1854] (read) A Lecture by …
  • … not published but reported fully in Literary Gazette Sept 30 1854 91 Agricult. Journal …
  • … d’un Naturaliste A. de Quatrefages [Quatrefages de Bréau 1854]. (light reading) (??) read …
  • … Domestic animals. 94 Lloyd Scandinavian Adventures 1854 [L. Lloyd 1854]. praised in …
  • … sur les Migration des Vegetaux 4 to  Pamphlet [Godron 1854] (read) Journal of Asiatic Soc. …
  • … specially of central platform of France 8 fr. [Lecoq 1854–8] Read Journal de la Soc. Imp. d …
  • … Sir J. Lubbock. member Ferguson on Poultry [Ferguson 1854], recommended by M r  Brent, but …
  • … D r . Badham “Ancient & Modern Tattle” on Fish [Badham 1854]. M r  Tegetmeier says very …
  • … (read) From Nott & Gliddon [J. C. Nott and Gliddon 1854] Roselini Monumenta [ …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
  • … ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
  • … to William Jackson Hooker. See  Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
  • … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832.  A letter in vindication of   the principles of …
  • … by Bekhur to   Garoo and the Lake Manasarowara: with a letter from … J.   G. Gerard, Esq. …
  • … 1830. On the dying struggle of the dichotomous sytem. In a letter to N. A. Vigors.  Philosophical …
  • … *119: 8v., 22v.; *128: 165 ——. 1850a. Letter to the Rev. John Bachman, on the question of …
  • … art of improving the   breeds of domestic animals. In a letter addressed to the   Right Hon. Sir …
  • … 1820.  Remarks on the improvement of   cattle, &c. in a letter to Sir John Saunders Sebright, …

Darwin and the Church

Summary

The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … & I can see it even through a grove of Palms.—’ (letter to Caroline Darwin, 25–6 April [1832] …
  • … wrote to the contrary: ‘I am sorry to see in your last letter that you still look forward to the …
  • … near the British Museum or some other learned place’ (letter from E. A. Darwin, 18 August [1832] …
  • … it is a sort of scene I never ought to think about—’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [9–12 August] 1835 ). …
  • … However, what remains is cordial; in the first extant letter of the correspondence, Darwin wrote to …
  • … (a local charity), which he administered from 1848 to 1869 (letter to J. B. Innes, [8 May 1848] …
  • … he would make an excellent Guardian [of the Poor Fund]’ (letter to J. W. Lubbock, 28 March [1854] …
  • … club the use of his own lawn for its meetings (Moore 1985; letter to J. S. Henslow, 17 January …
  • … the family’s dog, Quiz, when he moved away from Down (letter to J. B. Innes, 15 December [1861] ) …
  • … was considered to be a cross between a cow and a red deer (letter from J. B. Innes, 7 December …
  • … ancestor. Please think of my request favourably—’ (letter from J. B. Innes, 26 May 1871 ). Indeed …
  • … and leaves Moses to take care of himself. Letter from J. B. Innes, 1 December 1878 …
  • … take care of the financial complications he left behind (letter from S. J. O’H. Horsman, 2 June …
  • … seemed to have made off with the church’s organ fund (letter to J. B. Innes, 15 June [1868] ). So …
  • … by Horsman relating to the Down school and organ funds (letter to J. B. Innes, 13 January 1871 ). …
  • … Dissenters’ chapel, rather than the Down parish church (letter to J. B. Innes, 1 December 1868 ). …
  • … in the Parish, but preaches, I hear, very dull sermons’ (letter to J. B. Innes, 18 January [1871] …
  • … capital testimonials to his wife’s qualifications’ (letter from J. B. Innes, 5 June 1871 ). …
  • … support, and presented their answer to the School Committee (letter to Down School Board, [after …
  • … of letters to both men, vainly seeking to reconcile them (letter from John Lubbock, 5 April [1875] …
  • … During the reign of Ffinden, there is an interesting letter from Darwin to the evangelist J. W. C. …
  • … do not know that there is a drunkard left in the village’ (letter to J. W. C. Fegan, [December …

Living and fossil cirripedia

Summary

Darwin published four volumes on barnacles, the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia, between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on fossil species. Written for a specialist audience, they are among the most challenging and least read of Darwin’s works…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … on the crustacean sub-class Cirripedia between 1851 and 1854, two on living species and two on …
  • … year on cirripede anatomy, Darwin wrote a rather reflective letter to his former professor and …
  • … his conclusions about larval-adult homologies in a letter to Dana in December 1853 . …
  • … in manuscript form to the Ray Society at the beginning of 1854 , where it took longer than the ‘ …
  • … to tell his friend Thomas Henry Huxley in early September 1854, ‘ My second volume on the …
  • … Society; the monograph itself was printed in 1854. This volume appears not to have been discussed …
  • … but he wrote to the Palaeontographical Society in February 1854 and the society confirmed that he …

Darwin in letters, 1847-1850: Microscopes and barnacles

Summary

Darwin's study of barnacles, begun in 1844, took him eight years to complete. The correspondence reveals how his interest in a species found during the Beagle voyage developed into an investigation of the comparative anatomy of other cirripedes and…

Matches: 18 hits

  • … hurrah for my species-work’ ( Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
  • … sub-class of Crustacea,  Living Cirripedia  (1851, 1854) and  Fossil Cirripedia  (1851, 1854). …
  • … William Herschel, to write the chapter on geology ( letter to J. F. W. Herschel, 4 February [1848] …
  • … by Darwin on the use of microscopes on board ship ( see letter to Richard Owen, [26 March 1848] ). …
  • … to Milne directly, he sent a long rejoinder in the form of a letter for publication in the Scotsman. …
  • … asked for it to be destroyed. Only the draft of Darwin’s letter remains ( letter to the  Scotsman …
  • … that his original fieldwork was ‘time thrown away’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 8 [September 1847] ) …
  • … that it would be a ‘thorn in the side of É de B.’ (letter to Charles Lyell, 3 January 1850 ). …
  • … marine invertebrates himself (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Leonard Jenyns, 10 April [1837]) …
  • … opinion that such a monograph was a ‘desideratum’ ( letter to J. L. R. Agassiz, 22 October 1848 ), …
  • … spermatozoa’ attached to the female (Living Cirripedia (1854): 23). Darwin had previously worked out …
  • … abortive stamens or pistils ( Correspondence  vol. 2, letter from J. S. Henslow, 21 November …
  • … from monoecious forms (Living Cirripedia (1851): 214; (1854): 29, 528 n.) and, at another level, to …
  • … care what you say, my species theory is all gospel.—’ ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 10 May 1848 ). …
  • … sacrifice the rule of priority for the sake of expedience ( letter to H. E. Strickland, [4 February …
  • … it as ‘the greatest curse to natural History’ ( letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849] ). …
  • … Museum of Zoology, has been transcribed with Darwin’s letter to H. E. Strickland, 29 January [1849 …
  • … the battle, he gave up only from fatigue and ill health ( letter to J. D. Hooker, 9 April 1849 ). …

Darwin’s study of the Cirripedia

Summary

Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. Coming between his transmutation notebooks and the Origin of species, it has frequently been interpreted as a digression from Darwin’s species work. Yet…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … Darwin’s work on barnacles, conducted between 1846 and 1854, has long posed problems for historians. …
  • … voyage. Darwin expressed his current enthusiasm in a letter to William Darwin Fox, 23 May 1833 ( …
  • … In both volumes of Living Cirripedia (1851 and 1854), Darwin devoted an introductory section to …
  • … was best placed among the Lepadidae ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 527–8).^1^1^    Both …
  • … segments are quite aborted . . . ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 562–3)    Indeed, …
  • … be the most natural arrangement. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 588)    The fact that the …
  • … with his figure of the mature animal ( Living Cirripedia (1854), Plate XXV).    Throughout …
  • … (1851): 37–8)    In Living Cirripedia (1854), Darwin ventured to suggest the possible …
  • … by a new and anomalous course. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 151–2)    Crisp (1983) has …
  • … was challenged in 1859 by August Krohn. As he admitted in a letter to Charles Lyell, 28 September …
  • … (as Darwin called it in his Autobiography and in his letter to Lyell), was more than a matter of …
  • … from bisexuality to unisexuality. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 29)^16^    Darwin’s …
  • … merely varieties (Southward 1983). In Living Cirripedia (1854), Darwin clearly stated the …
  • … be found eminently variable. ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 155)    One of the first …
  • … Toward the end of his study of Balanus , in a letter to Hooker on 25 September [1853] ( …
  • … latter instrument suited his purposes well; he reported in a letter to Richard Owen, 26 March 1848 …
  • … and mounting his specimens is well demonstrated by a letter he wrote to Charles Spence Bate, 13 …
  • … Informing Darwin about the award ( Correspondence vol. 5, letter from J. D. Hooker, [4 November …
  • … it was empirically invalid ( Calendar nos. 2118 and 2119, letter to T. H. Huxley, 5 July [1857] …
  • … ^9^ CD discussed his conception of archetype in a letter to Huxley, 23 April [1853] ( …
  • … a very direct and curious manner’ ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 529). Modern systematists place …
  • … nature was demonstrated.’ ( Living Cirripedia (1854): 555). See also Rachootin 1984, pp. 235–6.   …

3.2 Maull and Polyblank photo 1

Summary

< Back to Introduction The rise of professional photographic studios in the mid nineteenth century was a key factor in the shaping of Darwinian iconography, but Darwin’s relationship with these firms was from the start a cautious and sometimes a…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … the start a cautious and sometimes a difficult one. In 1854-5 the newly established firm of Henry …
  • … look atrociously wicked’. Hooker himself acknowledged in a letter of 1864 that the existing …
  • … who thought that ‘it was probably taken in the year 1854, but he had never seen it’. A slot in the …
  • … Walker, dated 1912; the photograph itself is here dated 1854, and accompanied by a facsimile of …
  • … Polyblank, photographers 
 date of creation 1854 or early 1855 
 computer-readable …
  • … [1855] (DCP-LETT-1688) and 17 Dec. [1860] (DCP-LETT-3024). Letter from Hooker to Darwin, 24 Jan. …

John Murray

Summary

Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … end of 1845, Darwin was not happy with Colburn’s terms ( Letter 856 ). Instead he asked his friend …
  • … John Murray, to open negotiations with his own publisher ( Letter 824 ). Lyell’s talk with Murray …
  • … have transacted the business with me’ (27 August [1845] Letter 908 ). Thus began the business …
  • … copies some pages in Darwin’s chapter were transposed ( Letter 1244 ). Darwin was anxious lest an …
  • … & make the poor workman some present’ (12 June [1849] Letter 1245 ). Darwin’s next …
  • … asked Lyell to act as his intermediary with John Murray ( Letter 2437 ), who, without even reading …
  • … not repent of having undertaken it’ (15 October [1859] Letter 2506 ). Murray decided on a retail …
  • … proud at the appearance of my child’ ([3 November 1859] Letter 2514 ). In the event, all Murray’s …
  • … – and a second edition was immediately called for ( Letter 2549 ). In the end Murray paid Darwin …
  • … (Variation ), but work progressed slowly ( Letter 3078 ); meanwhile in 1862 Murray published  On …
  • … Murray only offered Darwin half profits for this title ( Letter 3261 ); it was never a best-seller …
  • … ‘I fear it can never pay’ (3 January [1867] Letter 5346 ). In the end Murray decided to print …
  • … to Brazil, the beginning of a life-long correspondence ( Letter 4881 ). Subsequently Darwin …
  • … the risk himself. Murray suggested printing 750 copies ( Letter 6597 ), but Darwin decided on 1000 …
  • … fail, I think, to be much read’ (28 September [1870] Letter 7329 ). Murray decided to print 2500 …
  • … hope to Heaven book will sell well’ (12 January [1871] Letter 7438 ). A second printing was …
  • … America, of St George Mivart‘s Genesis of species  ( Letter 7907 ) ;  this was Darwin’s …

Before Origin: the ‘big book’

Summary

Darwin began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight-year study of barnacles (Darwin's Journal). He had long considered the question of species. In 1842, he outlined a theory of transmutation in a…

Matches: 5 hits

  • … began ‘sorting notes for Species Theory’ on 9 September 1854, the very day he concluded his eight …
  • … what he came to call his ‘big book’.   In March 1854, six months before he started sorting …
  • … to the entire natural history community by sending a letter to the Gardeners’ Chronicle , …
  • … it adequately. On 18 June 1858, Darwin received a now lost letter from Wallace enclosing his essay …
  • … I had, however, quite resigned myself & had written half a letter to Wallace to give up all …

Scientific Networks

Summary

Friendship|Mentors|Class|Gender In its broadest sense, a scientific network is a set of connections between people, places, and things that channel the communication of knowledge, and that substantially determine both its intellectual form and content,…

Matches: 24 hits

  • … and colonial authorities. In the nineteenth-century, letter writing was one of the most important …
  • … in times of uncertainty, controversy, or personal loss. Letter writing was not only a means of …
  • … botanist Asa Gray. Darwin and Hooker Letter 714 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … and he is curious about Hooker’s thoughts. Letter 729 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … to Hooker “it is like confessing a murder”. Letter 736 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D. …
  • … wide-ranging genera. Darwin and Gray Letter 1674 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … and asks him to append the ranges of the species. Letter 1685 — Gray, Asa to Darwin, C. …
  • … and relationships of alpine flora in the USA. Letter 2125 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … and their approach to information exchange. Letter 1202 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. D …
  • … first describer’s name to specific name. Letter 1220 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, C. R., …
  • … perpetuity of names in species descriptions. Letter 1260 — Darwin, C. R. to Hooker, J. …
  • … ends with a discussion of lamination of gneiss. Letter 1319 — Hooker, J. D. to Darwin, …
  • … up his doubts about Darwin’s doctrines. In his second letter he talks about his visit with Falconer. …
  • … was on the Beagle voyage and afterwards. Letter 152 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. …
  • … is Henslow’s “bounden duty to lecture me”. Letter 196 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, C. R. …
  • … sends home a copy of his notes on the specimens. Letter 249 — Henslow, J. S. to Darwin, …
  • … sends news of Cambridge and mutual friends. Letter 251 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S …
  • … illness and specimens are sent to Henslow. Letter 272 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, J. S. …
  • … collection and plans to cross the Cordilleras. Letter 1189 — Darwin, C. R. to Henslow, …
  • … Hermann Müller. Darwin and Lubbock Letter 1585 — Darwin, C. R. to Lubbock, John, …
  • … and it has reawakened his passion for entomology. Letter 1720 — Darwin, C. R. to …
  • … 147 (1857): 79–100]. Darwin and Müller Letter 5457 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, …
  • … of the floral anatomy of Lopezia miniata . Letter 5471 — Darwin, C. R. to Müller, H. …
  • … Fritz Müller is Hermann Müller’s brother. Letter 5481 — Müller, H. L. H. to Darwin, C. …

Editorial policy and practice

Summary

Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of the Correspondence. Transcriptions are made from the original or a facsimile where these are available. Where they are not, texts are taken from the best…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … Full texts are added to this site four years after the letter is published in the print edition of …
  • … (for example in a dealer's catalogue).The text of each letter has been closely checked against …
  • … letters he received is given in the 'Annotations' below the letter (line numbers refer to …
  • … to be identified by inference from the content and date of a letter or its reply, or some other …
  • … of letters have had to be dated only approximately. If a letter is in a series which contains a …
  • … and ‘after’ are used in a strict sense. Thus a letter dated ‘after 8 July 1854’ is judged to have …
  • … 3. The address If there is no address on a letter from Darwin, but there is some internal …
  • … not supplied unless good evidence is at hand. 4. The letter summaries The summaries on …
  • … of the printed Calendar . Where the full text of a letter is also given and there are …

Joseph Simms

Summary

The American doctor and author of works on physiognomy Joseph Simms wrote to Darwin on 14 September 1874, while he was staying in London. He enclosed a copy of his book Nature’s revelations of character (Simms 1873). He hoped it might 'prove…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … with rigid care at every object’. No reply to the letter has been found, and Darwin was not …
  • … please give your height while standing in stockings. (Letter from Joseph Simms, 14 …
  • … in major cities of the US and Canada on physiognomy in 1854. In 1866 he sought training in anatomy …

Darwin’s observations on his children

Summary

Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…

Matches: 8 hits

  • … of logical thought and language. On 20 May 1854, Darwin again took over the notebook and, …
  • … our door N o  12 and N o  11 is in the slit for the Letter box.— he decidedly ran past N o  11 …
  • … has learned them from my sometimes changing the first letter in any word he is using—thus I say …
  • … a bit of red glass at the garden) 47v.  May 1854. Before tea Ch. asked Lenny P. Have you …
  • … give me a kiss if you like”. 48 [74] May 20— 1854.— I saw a pile of sand lying on the lawn …
  • … I could not help it awfully”.— 49  June 1854— About 9 months ago, Lenny defined being in …
  • … Horace Lenny. When ill with Fever & recovering (Dec 1854) used constantly to ask in the …
  • … , pp. 131–2. [6]  Correspondence  vol. 2, letter from Emma Wedgwood, [23 January 1839] . …

Barnacles

Summary

Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment Darwin and barnacles Darwin’s interest in Cirripedia, a class of marine arthropods, was first piqued by the discovery of an odd burrowing barnacle, which he later named “Mr. Arthrobalanus," while he was…

Matches: 6 hits

  • … and wrote about barnacles on a daily basis from 1846 to 1854. Ultimately, Darwin's deep and …
  • … York: Grove Press. (p.1 - 83) Letters Letter Packet: Darwin's Barnacles …
  • … to London to have Mr. Arthrobalanus illustrated. Letter 1022 —Darwin to J. D. Hooker, …
  • … the unusual anatomy of Mr. Arthrobalanus. Letter 1140 —Darwin to J. C. Ross, 31 Dec 1847 …
  • … in search of the lost explorer John Franklin. Letter 1253 —Darwin to Albany Hancock, [21 …
  • … to ask him to share preserved specimens with him. Letter 1370 —Darwin to Syms Covington, …

Charles Darwin’s letters: a selection 1825-1859

Summary

The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University of Edinburgh, to the end of 1859, when the Origin of Species was published. The early letters portray Darwin as a lively sixteen-year-old medical student. Two…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … taxonomic study of the entire order. By this time, 1854, Darwin had become a family man. In …
  • … field notes exist that record the observations made between 1854 and 1861 by five of his children, …
  • … the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. In his letter of 11 January 1844 , Darwin …
  • … ‘big book’, when, in June 1858, he received the famous letter from Wallace in which was enclosed a …

3.3 Maull and Polyblank photo 2

Summary

< Back to Introduction Despite the difficulties that arose in relation to Maull and Polyblank’s first photograph of Darwin, another one was produced, this time showing him in three-quarter view. It was evidently not taken at the same session as the…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … the publication of Origin in late November 1859. In his letter of spring 1862, Darwin’s brother …
  • … Darwin (with a caption querying the date, and suggesting ‘1854?’). It was reproduced …
  • … he expressed with it (if correctly identified) in his 1861 letter to Gray was shared by many readers …
  • … print 
 references and bibliography Letter from Darwin to Hooker, 17 Dec. [1860], DCP-LETT …

Science, Work and Manliness

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters In 1859, popular didactic writer William Landels published the first edition of what proved to be one of his best-selling works, How Men Are Made. "It is by work, work, work" he told his middle class audience, …

Matches: 11 hits

  • … Letters Letter 282 - Darwin to Fox, W. D., [9 - 12 August 1835] Darwin …
  • … “a little reading, thinking and hammering”. Letter 1533 - Darwin to Dana, J. D., [27 …
  • … involved in producing such a magnum opus. In a subsequent letter , Darwin describes Dana’s …
  • … that de Bosquet has bestowed on the subject. Letter 2669 - Bunbury, C. J. F. to Darwin, …
  • … a work of “astonishing labour and patience”. Letter 4262 - Darwin to Gray, A., [4 …
  • … 134 crosses which was “no slight labour”. Letter 3901 - Darwin to Falconer, H., [5 & …
  • … not depleted completely his health and strength. Letter 4000 - Darwin to Dana, J. D., …
  • … . It is, Darwin says, “a monument of labour”. Letter 4185 - Darwin to Scott, J., [25 …
  • … a wonderful, indefatigable worker you are!”. Letter 4997 - Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, [4 …
  • … systematically to collect and arrange facts. Letter 8153 - Darwin to Darwin, W. E., [9 …
  • … and anxiety” involved in the editorial process. Letter 9157 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H., …

Alfred Russel Wallace

Summary

Wallace was a leading Victorian naturalist, with wide-ranging interests from biogeography and evolutionary theory to spiritualism and politics. He was born in 1823 in Usk, a small town in south-east Wales, and attended a grammar school in Hertford. At the…

Matches: 7 hits

  • … able to finance another extended voyage to Malaysia. Between 1854 and 1862, he travelled some 14,000 …
  • … by Wallace’s observations and theoretical abilities. In a letter of 1 May 1857, he alluded to his …
  • … as too metaphorical and prone to misinterpretation (see letter from A. R. Wallace, 2 July 1866). …
  • … phenomena, open to scientific investigation (see letter from A. R. Wallace, 18 April [1869]). …
  • … letters to Wallace, 17 June 1876 and 7 January 1881, and the letter from A. R. Wallace, 29 January …
  • … chief”, while Darwin was the “great General” (letter to Charles Kingsley, 7 May 1869). In later …
  • … jealousy towards each other, though in one sense rivals” (letter to A. R. Wallace, 20 April [1870]). …

Thomas Henry Huxley

Summary

Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a leading Victorian zoologist, science popularizer, and education reformer. He was born in Ealing, a small village west of London, in 1825. With only two years of…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … an appointment as paleontologist to the Geological Survey in 1854. He moved quickly to the inner …
  • … colleague as ‘my dear Huxley’ for the first time in a letter of 20 February [1855]. Darwin did have …
  • … subject of transmutation with Huxley (see for example his letter of 23 April 1853), but he did not …
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