From R. F. Cooke 26 April 1871
Summary
Believes heliotype process is best for book illustrations. Has sent copies [of Descent] to Loescher and Carus.
Is working on an estimate for the cheap [6th] edition of the Origin.
The Times review has not hurt sales of Descent.
| Author: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 26 Apr 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 396 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7719 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872. Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
- … John Murray, 12 April [1871] and n. 2, and letter to J. V. Carus, 25 April [1871] . Origin 6th ed. was not published until February 1872 ( …
To J. D. Hooker 5 July [1871]
Summary
Lady Lyell’s anxiety over Lyell’s health.
Preparing new edition of Origin.
Asks whether anything was observed [in Morocco] on expressions.
Did JDH notice whether pollen-masses in Ophrys apifera in N. Africa fall on the stigma, as in England?
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 5 July [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 197–8 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7850 |
To John Murray 3 June [1871]
Summary
Is disappointed at high price, 7s 6d, being considered for the cheap edition of the Origin [6th ed.]. Has been told that, in Lancashire, workmen club together to buy the Origin.
Little chance that Expression will be done this autumn.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 3 June [1871] |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 246–7) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7798 |
Matches: 3 hits
- … animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872. Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The …
- … By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872. Origin : On the origin of species by means …
- … 1872, p. 143). CD’s informant was William Boyd Dawkins (see letter from W. B. Dawkins, 23 February 1871 ). Origin 5th ed. William Clowes & Sons were printers to John Murray . …
To Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen 8 November 1871
Summary
CD glad to hear of success of translation of Descent.
Will not go to press with Expression for six or nine months; hopes HHHvZ will think it worth translating.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen |
| Date: | 8 Nov 1871 |
| Classmark: | Boston Medical Library in the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard University (B MS Misc.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8056 |
To Ernst Haeckel 27 December 1871
Summary
Refers to priest who believes in "our ape-like progenitors".
EH’s work on sponges.
Pangenesis.
Describes new edition of Origin [6th]
and his work on plant crossing.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Ernst Philipp August (Ernst) Haeckel |
| Date: | 27 Dec 1871 |
| Classmark: | Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A Abt. 1–52/26) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8121 |
From John Murray 31 May [1871]
Summary
On photographic illustrations [for Expression].
Estimates 7s 6d price for a cheap edition of Origin [6th].
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 31 May [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 400 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7784 |
To R. F. Cooke 30 October 1871
Summary
Has completed corrections for Origin [6th ed.], but has received no proofs. Hopes it will be published without delay.
Has been reflecting on Murray’s suggestion to stereotype the Origin. Sees advantage in that it will make him stop additions and changes in style. Inquires whether each separate sheet is stereotyped and can be altered.
Asks whether any copies of C. Wright’s pamphlet have been sold.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray |
| Date: | 30 Oct 1871 |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 232–3) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8034 |
To E. B. Tylor 30 April [1871]
Summary
Thanks EBT for present of Primitive culture [1871]. Feels certain he will regret not having read it before writing Descent.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Edward Burnett Tylor |
| Date: | 30 Apr [1871] |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 50254: 37–8) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7727 |
To John Scott 1 November 1871
Summary
JS should not consider repaying CD; the money was a gift, not a loan.
JS’s information on expression is the best he has received.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Scott |
| Date: | 1 Nov 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 185: 111 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8045 |
To John Murray 23 April [1871]
Summary
Asks JM to lend him his copy of 1st edition (1806) of Charles Bell’s Anatomy of expression.
JM should tell him when he wants new cheap edition of Origin, so he can arrange his plans and time.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 23 Apr [1871] |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 240–1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7709 |
To William Ogle 25 March [1871]
Summary
Asks WO to act out the sudden discovery of a dreadful object and to observe whether his platysma contracts. CD has found in his notes that it is never contracted in cases of severe dyspnoea [Expression, p. 301].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | William Ogle |
| Date: | 25 Mar [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 261.5: 9 (EH 88205907) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7622 |
From H. E. Darwin to Emma Darwin [March 1871]
Summary
Possible quotations about shame for CD.
| Author: | Henrietta Emma Darwin; Henrietta Emma Litchfield |
| Addressee: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Date: | [Mar 1871] |
| Classmark: | Cornford Family Papers (DAR 275: 22) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7605G |
To R. F. Cooke 22 April [1871]
Summary
Detailed questions about illustrations for [forthcoming] Expression.
Asks whether Times review has hurt sales of Descent.
The type on specimen page of Origin [6th ed.] seems clear, but lines are close. The cost is the great point for a wide circulation.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Francis Cooke |
| Date: | 22 Apr [1871] |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 285–6) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7705 |
From James Murie 2 March 1871
Summary
Thanks for Descent.
He is "driven" from his post.
He has homologised the face muscles of cetaceans and man. Although the former do not show expression, the nose and upper lip muscles are highly developed.
| Author: | James Murie |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 2 Mar 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 321 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7531 |
From W. W. Reade 1 February 1871
Summary
Sir Andrew Smith says Hottentots and Kaffirs laugh till they cry.
| Author: | William Winwood Reade |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 1 Feb 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 176: 45 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7473 |
From Anton Dohrn 28 February 1871
Summary
Thanks CD for Variation.
From his work on insect embryology he sees a great parallelism between insect and vertebrate embryology.
The zoological station is slowly advancing.
| Author: | Felix Anton (Anton) Dohrn |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 28 Feb 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 162: 206 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7520 |
To James Crichton-Browne 2 November [1871]
Summary
Asks JC-B to observe whether platysma muscle contracts during rigor or shivering fit.
Is just recommencing his essay on expression.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | James Crichton-Browne |
| Date: | 2 Nov [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 143: 340 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8047 |
From John Wood 6 April 1871
Summary
Corrects CD on his assertion that the platysma myoides "cannot voluntarily be brought into action" [Descent 1: 19].
| Author: | John Wood |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Apr 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 87: 145–6 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7661 |
To F. C. Donders 19 June 1871
Summary
Thanks FCD for information about eyes [for Expression].
Must interrupt work on the subject to prepare new edition of Origin [6th].
Comments on gift of a new work by FCD [possibly "Die Projection der Gesichtserscheinung nach der Richtungslinien", Arch. Opthalmol. 17 (1871) Abt. 2: 1–68].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Frans Cornelis (Franciscus Cornelius) Donders |
| Date: | 19 June 1871 |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7824 |
To George Grove 17 July [1871]
Summary
The cat exhibition might provide information on unusual breeds of cats and their inheritance.
Expresses interest in deafness of white, blue-eyed cats.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | George Grove |
| Date: | 17 July [1871] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7870 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (99) |
| Reade, W. W. | (7) |
| Crichton-Browne, James | (5) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (3) |
| François de Chaumont, F. S. B. | (3) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (62) |
| Crichton-Browne, James | (9) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (7) |
| Darwin, W. E. | (7) |
| Murray, John (b) | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (161) |
| Crichton-Browne, James | (14) |
| Cooke, R. F. | (10) |
| John Murray | (9) |
| Murray, John (b) | (9) |
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
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: 1 hits
- … Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was …
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's …
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: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … If I lived 20 more years, & was able to work, how I sh d . have to modify the “Origin”, & …
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.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, seeing the publication of his …
Women’s scientific participation
Summary
Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants Darwin’s correspondence helps bring to light a community of women who participated, often actively and routinely, in the nineteenth-century scientific community. Here is a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Observers | Fieldwork | Experimentation | Editors and critics | Assistants …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 6 March 1868, Darwin wrote to the entomologist and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If …
John Maurice Herbert
Summary
John Maurice Herbert was a close friend of Darwin’s at Cambridge University. He was affectionately called ‘Cherbury’ by Darwin, a reference to the seventeenth-century philosopher Edward Herbert, Baron Cherbury, who, like John Herbert, hailed from…
Matches: 1 hits
- … John Maurice Herbert was a close friend of Darwin’s at Cambridge University. He was affectionately …
Earthworms
Summary
As with many of Darwin’s research topics, his interest in worms spanned nearly his entire working life. Some of his earliest correspondence about earthworms was written and received in the 1830s, shortly after his return from his Beagle voyage, and his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment Earthworms and Wedgwood cousins …
Darwin's in letters, 1873: Animal or vegetable?
Summary
Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of emotions, Darwin was able to devote 1873 almost exclusively to his beloved plants. He resumed work on the digestive powers of sundews and Venus fly traps, and…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Having laboured for nearly five years on human evolution, sexual selection, and the expression of …
Darwin in public and private
Summary
Extracts from Darwin's published works, in particular Descent of man, and selected letters, explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual selection in humans, and both his publicly and privately expressed views on its practical implications…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The following extracts and selected letters explore Darwin's views on the operation of sexual …
Survival of the fittest: the trouble with terminology Part II
Summary
The most forceful and persistent critic of the term ‘natural selection’ was the co-discoverer of the process itself, Alfred Russel Wallace. Wallace seized on Herbert Spencer’s term ‘survival of the fittest’, explicitly introduced as an alternative way of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … This term is the plain expression of the facts,—Nat. selection is a metaphorical …
Forms of flowers
Summary
Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species, published in 1877, investigated the structural differences in the sexual organs of flowers of the same species. It drew on and expanded five articles Darwin had published on the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s book The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species , published in 1877, …
Movement in Plants
Summary
The power of movement in plants, published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical work that Darwin wrote. It was the only work in which the assistance of one of his children, Francis Darwin, is mentioned on the title page. The research for this…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The power of movement in plants , published on 7 November 1880, was the final large botanical …
4.14 'Fun' cartoon, 'That troubles'
Summary
< Back to Introduction Of all the cartoons showing Darwin as an ape, ‘That troubles our monkey again’ by John Gordon Thomson is the only one that hints, albeit playfully, at improper behaviour. Descent of Man had been criticised for its apparent…
Matches: 1 hits
- … < Back to Introduction Of all the cartoons showing Darwin as an ape, ‘That troubles …
Darwin in letters, 1869: Forward on all fronts
Summary
At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of Origin. He may have resented the interruption to his work on sexual selection and human evolution, but he spent forty-six days on the task. Much of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1869, Darwin was hard at work making changes and additions for a fifth edition of …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
