To J. M. Herbert 18 November [1856]
Summary
Defers a visit with Lieutenant Blakiston; "my wife is out of health & expects her confinement in a few weeks, & I cannot possibly receive any one here or leave home . . ."
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Maurice Herbert |
| Date: | 18 Nov [1856] |
| Classmark: | Sotheby’s, New York (dealers) (June 1991); Remember When Antiquities (dealers) (catalogue 26, 1992); Gerard A. J. Stodolski Inc. (dealers) (1995) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2020A |
To W. D. Fox 8 [June 1856]
Summary
The responses to his queries on domestic variations are coming in from all over; believes he will make an interesting collection. At present concerned with rabbits and ducks.
Has told Lyell of his views on species and CL urges CD to publish a preliminary essay. Has begun to work on it, with fear and trembling at its inadequacies.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 8 [June 1856] |
| Classmark: | University of British Columbia Library, Rare Books and Special Collections (Pearce/Darwin Fox collection RBSC-ARC-1721-1-10) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1895 |
From Asa Gray [early August 1856]
Summary
Believes intermediate varieties are generally less numerous in individuals than the two states that they connect.
Discusses the difficulties of deciding what is the typical form of a species
and gives some opinions on the variability of introduced species compared with indigenous species.
| Author: | Asa Gray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [early Aug 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 165: 93 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1934 |
From Laurence Edmondston [before 3 May 1856]
Summary
The vaunted fidelity of the ark bird has its exceptions.
Gives some details on wild pigeons.
Answers in the affirmative CD’s query about drifted trees.
| Author: | Laurence Edmondston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [before 3 May 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.2: 229 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1865 |
To John Maurice Herbert 2 January [1856]
Summary
Thanks JMH for book of poems.
Recalls early days together. He cannot visit due to health.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Maurice Herbert |
| Date: | 2 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.121) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1814 |
From Bernard Peirce Brent [after August 1856]
Summary
On his breeding of Jacobin pigeons. How reciprocal crosses to produce mules work among canaries, goldfinches, linnets, and green linnets.
Will soon forward copies of Cottage Gardener for June.
| Author: | Bernard Peirce Brent |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [after Aug 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 160.2: 298 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-2850 |
From Thomas Vernon Wollaston [February 1856]
Summary
Sends Madeira specimens, including frogs recently introduced into the island, and flourishing.
| Author: | Thomas Vernon Wollaston |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [Feb 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.3: 299 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1806 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier [18 September 1856]
Summary
CD concerned with rabbits and ducks because evidence of their single origin is "better … than in most cases".
Death of William Yarrell.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | [18 Sept 1856] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1955 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … hear of the death of our old & excellent friend,—Yarrell. — Your’s very sincerely | C. …
To J. D. Hooker 9 May [1856]
Summary
Lyell urges CD to publish a sketch of species theory; CD asks JDH’s opinion on best course.
Concerned about opposition, particularly by Owen, to Huxley’s admission to Athenaeum.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 9 May [1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 161 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1870 |
To T. C. Eyton 31 August [1856]
Summary
Asks whether number of incisors varies in domestic pigs. Is testing views of J. M. Bechstein.
Comments on TCE’s book [Herd book of Hereford cattle (1846–59)]. Mentions variations in the breed.
Will quote TCE on geese [Mag. Nat. Hist. 4 (1840): 90–2].
Problem of geographical distribution; his seed-salting experiments. Asks about distribution of seeds to islands. Do water-birds ever have dirty feet?
Could Eyton’s gamekeepers collect owl and hawk pellets? Asks for dace stomachs and contents.
Asks for cats’ skeletons.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Thomas Campbell Eyton |
| Date: | 31 Aug [1856] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.137) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1948 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … you like hearing from old naturalist friends, to a severe test. So forgive me & believe …
To Albany Hancock 25 May [1856]
Summary
Wants accurate information on "the economy of nature". Is interested in how far the struggle with other species checks the northern range of any species.
Thanks John Storey for information.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Albany Hancock |
| Date: | 25 May [1856] |
| Classmark: | J. Hancock 1886, pp. 277–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1332 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … in this predicament observed by himself & friends; & it appears that only three or four of …
To W. D. Fox 14 June [1856]
Summary
Does not intend to work systematically on cats. Their origin is in doubt and they have been crossed too many ways.
It would be valuable to know whether half-bred ducks are fertile inter se or with a third breed. Is investigating this with pigeons.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 14 June [1856] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 98) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1901 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … before publishing anything. My dear old friend | Yours affect y | C. Darwin I am off in …
To John Lubbock 24 April [1856]
Summary
Congratulations on JL’s marriage. Invitation to dine at Down with the Hookers, Huxleys, and T. V. Wollaston.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Date: | 24 Apr [1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 263: 2 (EH 88206448) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1859 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … I do not believe that any of your many friends can send you more cordial & true good …
To J. D. Hooker [19 October 1856]
Summary
CD sorry he had to leave the Hookers abruptly to catch his train.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [19 Oct 1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 114: 179 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1977 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … partridges feet well caked with mud!!! Adios | Your insane & perverse friend | C. Darwin …
To W. D. Fox 20 October [1856]
Summary
Has taken birds with seeds in crops to Zoological Society and fed them to eagles and owls. Pellets with seeds in perfect condition were "thrown up" in 18 and 16 hours, showing an effective means of distribution.
Asks WDF to write to his nephew in Jamaica to try experiments with floating lizards’ and snakes’ eggs in sea-water, to see if they survive.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Darwin Fox |
| Date: | 20 Oct [1856] |
| Classmark: | Christ’s College Library, Cambridge (MS 53 Fox 99) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1978 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … the experiment too foolish. My dear old friend, no one can more sincerely wish for your …
To J. S. Henslow 22 January [1856]
Summary
Alphonse de Candolle’s Géographie botanique [raisonnée (1855)] strikes him as a wonderful, admirable work.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Stevens Henslow |
| Date: | 22 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 93: A108–A109 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1823 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of Betley Hall, Staffordshire, a close friend of Emma Darwin’s father Josiah Wedgwood II , …
To J. W. Lubbock 27 May [1856]
Summary
Asks JWL to use his influence to forward the appointment of T. H. Huxley to the Examinership in Physiology and Comparative Anatomy at University of London. Gives details of THH’s qualifications.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John William Lubbock, 3d baronet |
| Date: | 27 May [1856] |
| Classmark: | The Royal Society (LUB: D23) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1877 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … of London & have influence there. — My friend, M r . Huxley F.R.S. is a candidate for the …
To Robert Everest? 18 June [1856]
Summary
Seeks to verify whether bulldogs have degenerated in India [see Variation 1: 37–8].
CD has "sometimes gone so far as to doubt whether climate has any influence even on colour".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Everest |
| Date: | 18 June [1856] |
| Classmark: | Barbara and Robert Pincus (private collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1906 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … Kent June 18 th . Dear Sir Our mutual friend D r . Falconer has told me that I might use …
From Edward Blyth 8 January [1856]
Summary
Encloses "notes for Mr. D" [see 1818] and a memorandum on the wild cattle of southern India [see 1819].
Breeds of silky fowl of China and Malaya. Black-skinned fowl.
Doubts any breed of canary has siskin blood; all remain true to their type.
Wild canary and finch hybrids.
Hybrids between one- and two-humped camels.
Does not regard zebra markings on asses as an indication of interbreeding but as one of the many instances of markings in the young which more or less disappear in the adult.
Crossing of Coracias species at the edges of their ranges.
Regional variations and intergrading between species of pigeons.
Regards the differences in Treron as specific [see Natural selection, p. 115 n. 1].
Gives other instances of representative species or races differing only in certain details of colouring.
| Author: | Edward Blyth |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 8 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | DAR 98: A110–13, A117–21 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1817 |
To W. B. Tegetmeier 14 January [1856]
Summary
Is attempting to get skins of poultry from all quarters of the world. Wants to inspect poultry collections.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Bernhard Tegetmeier |
| Date: | 14 Jan [1856] |
| Classmark: | Archives of the New York Botanical Garden (Charles Finney Cox Collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1820 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … d . be willing to go to 5 s per bird. — My old friend the Rev. R. Pulleine (whose name, I …
| letter | (40) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (26) |
| Blyth, Edward | (2) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Brent, B. P. | (1) |
| Dana, J. D. | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (14) |
| Fox, W. D. | (6) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (3) |
| Eyton, T. C. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (40) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (8) |
| Fox, W. D. | (7) |
| Tegetmeier, W. B. | (3) |
| Blyth, Edward | (2) |
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
William Yarrell
Summary
William Yarrell was a London businessman, a stationer and bookseller, who became an expert on British birds and fish, writing standard reference works on both. He was a member of several science and natural history societies, including the Linnean Society…
Matches: 1 hits
- … hearing of Yarrell's death, lamenting ' our old & excellent friend '. …
Joseph Dalton Hooker
Summary
The 1400 letters exchanged between Darwin and Joseph Dalton Hooker (1817-1911) account for around 10% of Darwin’s surviving correspondence and provide a structure within which all the other letters can be explored. They are a connecting thread that spans…
Matches: 5 hits
- … important to Darwin than those exchanged with his closest friend, the botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker. …
- … of his six year-old daughter, Maria, knowing that his friend, who had lost both a ten year-old …
- … appearance: he addressed one letter to his “ Glorified Friend ” after receiving a photograph of …
- … British economic interests and fell out with their mutual friend, the Harvard botanist Asa Gray (see …
- … about the aristocracy, is rude about Darwin’s one-time friend and bitter opponent, the …
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Darwin in letters, 1876: In the midst of life
Summary
1876 was the year in which the Darwins became grandparents for the first time. And tragically lost their daughter-in-law, Amy, who died just days after her son's birth. All the letters from 1876 are now published in volume 24 of The Correspondence…
Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings
Summary
‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’, Darwin confessed in January 1875. He had worked on the subject intermittently since 1859, and had been steadily engaged on a book manuscript for nine months; January also saw the conclusion of a bitter dispute…
Matches: 4 hits
- … Yet on 15 January 1875 , Darwin confessed to his close friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, ‘I am getting …
- … also greatly honoured George. You have indeed been a true friend.’ Hooker was hampered by his …
- … in the form of a poem: From the Insects to their friend, Charles Darwin We are …
- … fellows. But Thiselton-Dyer had apparently jeopardised his friend’s chances by suggesting to the …
4.5 William Beard, comic painting
Summary
< Back to Introduction In June 1872, Darwin’s friend Asa Gray, the Harvard Professor of Botany, sent him a print or photograph of a comic painting by the American artist William Holbrook Beard. Titled The Youthful Darwin Expounding His Theories, it…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction In June 1872, Darwin’s friend Asa Gray, the Harvard Professor …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 7 hits
- … [ c . 27 August 1874] ). The death of a Cambridge friend, Albert Way, caused Darwin’s cousin, …
- … sent back his own to the publishers, he applied first to his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker, and …
- … this case you would I feel sure, no longer treat me as your friend, and you would free yourself at …
- … through William Walter Roberts, a Catholic priest and friend of Mivart’s, who was attending Huxley’s …
- … third son Francis married Amy Ruck, the sister of a friend of Leonard Darwin’s in the Royal …
- … ; letter from Michael Foster, 17 June [1874] ). Friend and patron Darwin championed …
- … on a more personal level, Darwin took care of his close friend Hooker, who stayed at Down after his …
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: 4 hits
- … discussions about species in the autumn of 1845, his close friend Joseph Dalton Hooker had been …
- … wrote a rather reflective letter to his former professor and friend, John Stevens Henslow, musing …
- … evidently did not satisfy Darwin, who hired his old school friend John Price to correct the work …
- … finally appear. It was no doubt a great relief to tell his friend Thomas Henry Huxley in early …
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 7 hits
- … , to Thomas Henry Huxley for evaluation, and persuaded his friend Joseph Dalton Hooker to comment on …
- … deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend of Darwin’s and prominent …
- … all kinds has perished with him. He was always a most kind friend to me. So the world goes.—’ ( …
- … Society on 2 February, and in April Darwin wrote to his friend Asa Gray, a botanist in the United …
- … July 1865 ). This may have been unwise: Thomas Thomson, a friend of Hooker’s, described by him as a …
- … expect from their private communications; Lubbock, a younger friend, had been encouraged and …
- … Darwin was consulting, or encouraging George to consult, a friend, the civil engineer Edward Cresy, …
Dramatisation script
Summary
Re: Design – Adaptation of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin, Asa Gray and others… by Craig Baxter – as performed 25 March 2007
Matches: 9 hits
- … Hooker, Hugh Falconer, Louis Agassiz, Adam Sedgwick, A Friend of John Stuart Mill, Emma Darwin, …
- … original and dangerous theory of natural selection to his friend, the botanist, Joseph D Hooker …
- … To give one example, the last time I saw my dear old friend Falconer, he attacked me most vigorously …
- … DARWIN: Now when I see such strong feeling in my oldest friend, you need not wonder that I always …
- … myself mistaken and punished; 55 My good dear friend, forgive me. This is a trumpery letter …
- … highest authority on such subjects, and he said lately to a friend, who wrote to me, as follows. …
- … with this population, I see not. 121 Your cordial friend and true Yankee, Asa Gray. …
- … Hooker is pale. HOOKER: 153 Dear dear friend. My darling little second girl …
- … hernia. DARWIN: 154 My dear old friend… HOOKER: 155 I tried …
Darwin in letters, 1881: Old friends and new admirers
Summary
In May 1881, Darwin, one of the best-known celebrities in England if not the world, began writing about all the eminent men he had met. He embarked on this task, which formed an addition to his autobiography, because he had nothing else to do. He had…
Matches: 5 hits
- … added, ‘when I look back, however, especially my beloved friend to the days I have spent in …
- … been worse.’ Recollections of the earlier loss of a close friend were prompted by the publication of …
- … having read a page of it, but relieved that Carlyle’s friend Erasmus Alvey Darwin, Darwin’s brother, …
- … was made public. On 1 September, an old Shrewsbury School friend, Lamplugh Dykes , wrote to …
- … our children’, Darwin told his old Cambridge University friend John Price on 27 December . As …
Descent
Summary
There are more than five hundred letters associated with the research and writing of Darwin’s book, Descent of man and selection in relation to sex (Descent). They trace not only the tortuous route to eventual publication, but the development of Darwin’s…
Darwin’s first love
Summary
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … of the attraction of Woodhouse for Darwin, but more as a friend and confidante , the difference …
Insectivorous plants
Summary
Darwin’s work on insectivorous plants began by accident. While on holiday in the summer of 1860, staying with his wife’s relatives in Hartfield, Sussex, he went for long walks on the heathland and became curious about the large number of insects caught by…
Darwin & coral reefs
Summary
The central idea of Darwin's theory of coral reef formation, as it was later formulated, was that the islands were formed by the upward growth of coral as the Pacific Ocean floor gradually subsided. It overturned previous ideas and would in itself…
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: 5 hits
- … two sets of letters. The first is between Darwin and his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker. The …
- … has sent some of Darwin’s South American plants to his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker for …
- … J. D., 19 [Apr 1864] Darwin makes another plea to his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker to take …
- … C. R. to Hooker, J. D., 25 Apr [1864] Darwin thinks his friend Kew botanist J. D. Hooker takes …
- … spent preceding day with Henslow; much had to be done. His friend, Alexander Charles Wood, has …
Alexander von Humboldt
Summary
The phases of Charles Darwin’s career have often been defined by the books that he read, from Lyell’s Principles of Geology during the Beagle voyage to Malthus’s Essay on the Principle of Population during his London years. The book that encouraged him to…
Matches: 3 hits
- … and life that he called ‘Physique générale’. He was a friend and collaborator of Goethe and his …
- … Narrative , a gift from Henslow inscribed ‘to his friend C. Darwin on his departure from England. …
- … scientific traveller who ever lived,’ Darwin told his friend Joseph Hooker. ‘You might truly call …
Henrietta Huxley
Summary
A colourful and insightful exchange occurred in 1865 in a light-hearted conversation between Darwin and Henrietta Huxley, the wife of Darwin’s friend and colleague, Thomas Henry Huxley. Like her husband, Henrietta was a close friend and great champion of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin and Henrietta Huxley , the wife of Darwin’s friend and colleague, Thomas Henry Huxley . …
That monstrous stain: To J. M. Herbert, 2 June 1833
Summary
Darwin did not consider himself to be a particularly good writer, but many of his letters contain not just a wealth of information, but also beautifully expressed descriptions and impressions that would be the envy of any essayist or novelist. Such is the…
