To Dear Friend 2 January 1822
Summary
Erasmus Alvey Darwin is good tempered and their sisters have "not abused at all". Hopes the recipient will help "in looking out and washing the fossils out of the plate closet".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Friend |
| Date: | 2 Jan 1822 |
| Classmark: | DAR 271/1/1 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-1G |
To Robert FitzRoy [20 February 1840]
Summary
Poor health has made him give up all geological work.
Profits on their volumes [of Narrative] seem absurdly small.
Looks back on Beagle voyage as the most fortunate circumstance in his life.
Finds marriage a great happiness.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert FitzRoy |
| Date: | [20 Feb 1840] |
| Classmark: | DAR 144: 117 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-555 |
From Arthur Mostyn-Owen 21 May 1873
Summary
Offers to exchange a water-colour portrait of CD, done, he believes, by Fanny Biddulph, for a copy of Descent.
There has been a decrease of game-birds in the area.
| Author: | Arthur Mostyn Owen |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 21 May 1873 |
| Classmark: | DAR 173: 42 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8917 |
To Robert Waring Darwin [23 October 1825]
Summary
First days in Edinburgh.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Robert Waring Darwin |
| Date: | [23 Oct 1825] |
| Classmark: | DAR 154: 68 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-16 |
From E. A. Darwin [24 January 1825]
Summary
Asks CD to do an experiment for him.
Has found a curious stone in his fire.
Price’s iron in tea measured 13 per cent.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [24 Jan 1825] |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11 |
To Catherine Darwin May–June [1832]
Summary
Lists letters received and those sent; comments on family happenings.
The Beagle is back [from Bahia]; two sailors and "little [Charles] Musters" died of fever. In 14 days they sail for Montevideo, then to Rio Negro, then on to where no man is known to have been before.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emily Catherine (Catherine) Darwin; Emily Catherine (Catherine) Langton |
| Date: | May–June [1832] |
| Classmark: | DAR 223 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-169 |
From John Lubbock 20 February 1868
Summary
Found [Variation] full of interest. Has not yet made up his mind about Pangenesis; wants to hear what can be said against it.
| Author: | John Lubbock, 4th baronet and 1st Baron Avebury |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 20 Feb 1868 |
| Classmark: | DAR 170: 63 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5901 |
From V. O. Kovalevsky 12 December [1870]
Summary
Progress on his Russian translation of Descent.
Alexander Kovalevsky is at Tor in Sinai, where C. G. Ehrenberg was in 1827.
Has CD seen Ernst Haeckel’s new book [Biologische Studien (1870–7)]?
| Author: | Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский) |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Dec [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 169: 68 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7389 |
From G. H. K. Thwaites 24 September 1863
Summary
Sends information on the flowers of Cassia roxburghii; will send flowers of all the species of Cassia for CD to study with a view to discovering the law which operates to bring about the differences.
| Author: | George Henry Kendrick Thwaites |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Sept 1863 |
| Classmark: | DAR 48: 74 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4303 |
To John Maurice Herbert [13 September 1828]
Summary
Asks JMH to collect some insects at Barmouth.
Reports on his shooting luck.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Maurice Herbert |
| Date: | [13 Sept 1828] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.1) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-47 |
To John Phillips 31 March [1874]
Summary
Regrets he cannot visit Oxford.
Comments on sketches in letter from JP [9360].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Phillips |
| Date: | 31 Mar [1874] |
| Classmark: | American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.439) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9379 |
To Catherine Darwin 22 May – 14 July 1833
Summary
Longs to be on the other side of the Horn; tired of these countries. Natural history makes him continue. He now knows it will remain his favourite pursuit for the rest of his life.
Comments on slavery.
Will have additional space on board and a servant [Syms Covington] who will help him with the collection of birds and quadrupeds.
Asks for books, a lens, and four pairs of shoes.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Emily Catherine (Catherine) Darwin; Emily Catherine (Catherine) Langton |
| Date: | 22 May – 14 July 1833 |
| Classmark: | DAR 223 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-206 |
From E. A. Darwin [June 1825]
Summary
Asks CD whether he is making any plans for Edinburgh.
Will be home in three weeks.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [June 1825] |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 13 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-15 |
From E. A. Darwin 18 August [1832]
Summary
Reports on the commissions CD requested of him [in a missing letter]; comments on English political issues.
| Author: | Erasmus Alvey Darwin |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 18 Aug [1832] |
| Classmark: | DAR 204: 93 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-182 |
From Emma Darwin to J. D. Hooker [7 December 1863]
Summary
CD too ill to write.
Has evidence of long life of seed transported on a partridge’s foot.
Sends a squib by Samuel Butler on the Origin.
| Author: | Emma Wedgwood; Emma Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | [7 Dec 1863] |
| Classmark: | DAR 115: 215 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-4351 |
From Henry Denny 30 October 1844
Summary
Has never heard of species of same genus [of parasites] being found on both birds and mammals, or different genera and species being found on animals in the domestic and wild states. Implications of this for relationship of aperea and guinea-pig.
| Author: | Henry Denny |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 30 Oct 1844 |
| Classmark: | DAR 205.3: 273 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-785 |
From Anthony Rich 29 December 1878
Summary
He would be happy to receive a visit from one of CD’s sons at any time.
| Author: | Anthony Rich |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 29 Dec 1878 |
| Classmark: | DAR 210.12: 9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-11810 |
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 |
To A. R. Wallace 12 July 1881
Summary
Will order Progress and poverty. Comments on ARW’s political interests and his own absorption in W. Graham’s The creed of science.
His sojourn at Ullswater: "life has become very wearisome to me".
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Alfred Russel Wallace |
| Date: | 12 July 1881 |
| Classmark: | The British Library (Add MS 46434) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-13243 |
Matches: 2 hits
- … 1825 ) in 1840, and Jean-Charles Léonard de Sismondi ’s Political economy, and the philosophy of government ( Sismondi 1847 ) in 1847; he described the latter as ‘poor’. Graham 1881 . See also letter …
- … 1825. The principles of political economy: with a sketch of the rise and progress of the science. Edinburgh: William and Charles Tait. London: Longman and Co. [Newman, Edward. ] 1849. The letters …
From G. R. Waterhouse [c. June 1845]
Summary
Notes on Galapagos Coleoptera.
| Author: | George Robert Waterhouse |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | [c. June 1845] |
| Classmark: | DAR 46.2: B3–5 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-807 |
| Darwin, C. R. | (20) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (4) |
| Darwin, Emma | (2) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (2) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (28) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (4) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (2) |
| FitzRoy, Robert | (2) |
| Fox, W. D. | (2) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (48) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (6) |
| Darwin, E. A. | (4) |
| Darwin, Catherine | (3) |
| Henslow, J. S. | (3) |
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: 1 hits
- … In April 1838, Darwin began recording the titles of books he had read and the books he wished to …
Early Days
Summary
Sources|Discussion Questions|Experiment The young Charles Darwin From an early age, Darwin exhibited a keen interest in the natural world. His boyish fascination with naturalist pursuits deepened as he entered college and started to interact with…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Sources | Discussion Questions | Experiment The young Charles Darwin …
Darwin’s student booklist
Summary
In October 1825 Charles Darwin and his older brother, Erasmus, went to study medicine in Edinburgh, where their father, Robert Waring Darwin, had trained as a doctor in the 1780’s. Erasmus had already graduated from Cambridge and was continuing his studies…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In October 1825 Charles Darwin and his older brother, Erasmus, went to study medicine in Edinburgh …
Books on the Beagle
Summary
The Beagle was a sort of floating library. Find out what Darwin and his shipmates read here.
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘Considering the limited disposable space in so very small a ship, we contrived to carry more …
Edward Lumb
Summary
Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, he travelled to Buenos Aires aged sixteen with his merchant uncle, Charles Poynton, and after some fortunate enterprises set up in business there. In 1833…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Edward Lumb was born in Yorkshire. According to the memoirs of his daughter Anne, Lady Macdonell, …
Darwin in letters, 1821-1836: Childhood to the Beagle voyage
Summary
Darwin's first known letters were written when he was twelve. They continue through school-days at Shrewsbury, two years as a medical student at Edinburgh University, the undergraduate years at Cambridge, and the of the voyage of H.M.S. Beagle.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin's first known letters were written when he was twelve. They continue through his school …
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: 1 hits
- … Dubbed “Darwin’s bulldog” for his combative role in controversies over evolution, Huxley was a …
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: 1 hits
- … The letters in this volume span the years from 1825, when Darwin was a student at the University …
John Lort Stokes
Summary
John Lort Stokes, naval officer, was Charles Darwin’s cabinmate on the Beagle voyage – not always an enviable position. After Darwin’s death, Stokes penned a description of their evenings spent working at the large table at the centre, Stokes at his…
Matches: 1 hits
- … John Lort Stokes, naval officer, was Charles Darwin’s cabinmate on the Beagle voyage – not …
Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle, by John Clunies Ross. Transcription by Katharine Anderson
Summary
[f.146r Title page] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle Supplement / to the 2nd 3rd and Appendix Volumes of the First / Edition Written / for and in the name of the Author of those / Volumes By J.C. Ross. / Sometime Master of a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … [ f.146r Title page ] Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle …
Introduction to the Satire of FitzRoy's Narrative of the Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle
Summary
'a humble toadyish follower…': Not all pictures of Darwin during the Beagle voyage are flattering. Published here for the first time is a complete transcript of a satirical account of the Beagle’s brief visit in 1836 to the Cocos Keeling islands…
Matches: 1 hits
- … I naturally wished to have a savant at my elbow – in the position of a humble toadyish …
