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The writing of "Origin"

Summary

From a quiet rural existence at Down in Kent, filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on the transmutation of species, Darwin was jolted into action in 1858 by the arrival of an unexpected letter (no longer extant) from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining a…

Matches: 22 hits

  • … hopes.— (letter to Charles Lyell,  25 [November 1859] ) The year 1858 opened with …
  • … and he shows no sign of anxiety. He says in a letter to Syms Covington, 18 May [1858] , that he …
  • … the writing of this ‘abstract’ continued until March 1859; the resulting volume was published in …
  • … instinct the previous March. By the middle of March 1859, Darwin had finished the last …
  • … upon Lyell for advice (letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell suggested the firm of …
  • … plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , and letter to John Murray, 6 …
  • … the forthcoming book (letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next considered calling …
  • … and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September …
  • … Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to Moor Park in Surrey for a week’s …
  • … than when I came’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was during his stay at Ilkley …
  • … rag is worth anything?’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical letters began …
  • … of induction’ (letter from Adam Sedgwick, 24 November 1859 ). Equally painful was the news that …
  • … (letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics, Darwin replied by resting …
  • … to me to do.’ (letter to Adam Sedgwick, 26 November [1859] ). Even his strongest …
  • … of Darwin’s theory (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 May 1859 ). Among the older scientists, only …
  • … the origin of mankind. As he wrote to Darwin on 3 October 1859 , ‘the case of Man and his Races …
  • … to their mercies’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, [22 November 1859] ). Late in December, to Darwin’s …
  • …  were the man.’ (letter to T. H. Huxley, 28 December [1859] ). Huxley admitted his authorship to …
  • … without good cause.’ (letter to John Murray, 2 December [1859] ). At Murray’s trade sale …
  • … had made’ (letter from Charles Kingsley, 18 November 1859 ). This and the two references to the …
  • … try to make out truth’ (letter to W. D. Fox, 24 [March 1859] ). Yet he desperately wanted people …
  • … on our side.—’ (letter to J. D. Hooker, 14 December [1859] ). …

Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin

Summary

The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…

Matches: 24 hits

  • … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …
  • … and prompted the composition and publication, in November 1859, of Darwin’s major treatise  On the …
  • …  exceeded my wildest hopes By the end of 1859, Darwin’s work was being discussed in …
  • … ‘When I was in spirits’, he told Lyell at the end of 1859, ‘I sometimes fancied that my book w  d …
  • … hopes.—’ ( letter to Charles Lyell, 25 [November 1859] ). This transformation in Darwin’s personal …
  • … and he shows no sign of anxiety. He says in a letter to Syms Covington, 18 May [1858], that he …
  • … the writing of this ‘abstract’ continued until March 1859; the resulting volume was published in …
  • … Botanic Gardens at Kew (see Appendix VII). The year 1859 began auspiciously with Darwin …
  • … 1854) ( Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society  15 (1859): xxv). One of the most …
  • … theory. As he wrote in his introductory essay (Hooker 1859, p. ii): 'In the present Essay I …
  • … to test such a theory. His essay, published in December 1859, was the first serious study of the …
  • … the other’s ideas (see letters to J. D. Hooker, 2 March [1859] , 11 March [1859] , and 7 …
  • … upon Lyell for advice ( letter to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] ). Lyell suggested the firm of …
  • … plan of his book (see letter from Elwin to Murray, 3 May 1859 , and letter to John Murray, 6 …
  • … the forthcoming book ( letter to Charles Lyell, 30 March [1859] ). Darwin next considered calling …
  • … and varieties’ (letters to Charles Lyell, 28 March [1859] , and to John Murray, 10 September …
  • … Appendix II). Twice in 1858 and three times in 1859 he had gone to Moor Park in Surrey for a week’s …
  • … than when I came’ ( letter to W. D. Fox, [16 November 1859] ). It was during his stay at Ilkley …
  • … rag is worth anything?’ ( letter to T. H. Huxley, 2 June [1859] ). But as critical letters began …
  • … of induction’ ( letter from Adam Sedgwick, 24 November 1859 ). Equally painful was the news that …
  • … ( letter to Charles Lyell, [10 December 1859] ). To each of his critics, Darwin replied by resting …
  • … to me to do.’ ( letter to Adam Sedgwick, 26 November [1859] ). Even his strongest …
  • … of Darwin’s theory ( see letter to J. D. Hooker, 6 May 1859 ). Among the older scientists, only …
  • … the origin of mankind. As he wrote to Darwin on 3 October 1859, ‘the case of Man and his Races & …

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: 2 hits

  • … component in the theory of speciation he published in his 1859 magnum opus On the Origin of …
  • … specimens with him. Letter 1370 —Darwin to Syms Covington, 23 Nov 1850 In this …

Darwin in letters, 1856-1857: the 'Big Book'

Summary

In May 1856, Darwin began writing up his 'species sketch’ in earnest. During this period, his working life was completely dominated by the preparation of his 'Big Book', which was to be called Natural selection. Using letters are the main…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … all of it found its way into  On the origin of species  (1859). His letters are often the only …
  • … with every soul struggling for subsistence’, he wrote to Syms Covington in New South Wales ( letter …

Darwin and Fatherhood

Summary

Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…

Matches: 4 hits

  • … by inheritance.’  (Darwin to W. D. Fox,  23 September [1859] ). He believed that five of his …
  • … and especially billiards were favourite family games, and in 1859 he ended a letter to his oldest …
  • … game of Billiards’. (Darwin to his son William,  7 July [1859] ). Whole family outings were …
  • … more for them than for anything in this world.’ (Darwin to Syms Covington,  9 March 1856 ) In the …

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: 3 hits

  • … Darwin’s prediction was correct. He did not publish until 1859, but he had no idea that it would not …
  • … in May 1858. ‘This work will be my biggest’, he told Syms Covington, his assistant during the …
  • … would be published as the Origin of Species in November 1859. Legacies Despite the …