To John Murray 14 February [1872]
Summary
Asks to have copy of Origin [6th ed.] sent to the Pall Mall Gazette for review with Mivart’s Genesis [of species (1871)].
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | John Murray |
| Date: | 14 Feb [1872] |
| Classmark: | Sotheby’s, New York (dealers) (11 December 2007) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8212 |
Reade, William Winwood. 1863. Savage Africa: being the narrative of a tour in equatorial, south-western, and north-western Africa. London: Smith, Elder, and Co.
To H. W. Bates 18 March [1868]
Summary
Requests information on the standard of beauty of savages and on whether the female has any influence in selecting a male.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Henry Walter Bates |
| Date: | 18 Mar [1868] |
| Classmark: | Cleveland Health Sciences Library (Robert M. Stecher collection) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-6022 |
To J. D. Hooker 1 February [1871]
Summary
Returns pamphlets.
B. T. Lowne’s observation [Mon. Microsc. J. 4 (1870): 326–30] that boiling does not kill certain moulds is curious, but then how account for absence of all living things in Pasteur’s experiment?
Always delighted to see a word in favour of Pangenesis.
Thiselton-Dyer’s paper ["On spontaneous generation and evolution", Q. J. Microsc. Sci. 10 (1870): 333–54] is Spencerian.
The chemical conditions for first production of life are said to exist at present, but in some warm little pond today such matter would be absorbed or devoured, which would not have been the case before living creatures were formed.
| Author: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Addressee: | Joseph Dalton Hooker |
| Date: | 1 Feb [1871] |
| Classmark: | DAR 94: 188–9 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7471 |
From Gerhard Rohlfs 6 June 1871
Summary
Various observations from his experience in Africa relevant to Descent.
Fertility of hybrids of blacks and whites.
Protective coloration of Sahara animals.
Natives’ ideas of female beauty.
| Author: | Gerhard Friedrich (Gerhard) Rohlfs |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 June 1871 |
| Classmark: | DAR 89: 183–4 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7805 |
| letter | (58) |
| bibliography | (5) |
| people | (2) |
| Reade, W. W. | (48) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (8) |
| Rohlfs, Gerhard | (1) |
| Sandwith, Humphry | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (50) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Reade, W. W. | (2) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
| Günther, Albert | (1) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (58) |
| Reade, W. W. | (50) |
| Hooker, J. D. | (2) |
| Sandwith, Humphry | (2) |
| Bates, H. W. | (1) |
William Winwood Reade
Summary
On 19 May 1868, an African explorer and unsuccessful novelist, William Winwoode Reade (1838–1875) offered to help Darwin, and started a correspondence and, arguably, a collaboration, that would last until Reade's death. After a first 1861 tour of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 19 May 1868 , an African explorer and unsuccessful novelist, William Winwoode Reade (1838 …
Darwin’s queries on expression
Summary
When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations more widely and composed a list of queries on human expression. A number of handwritten copies were sent out in 1867 (see, for example, letter to Fritz Muller…
Matches: 1 hits
- … When Darwin resumed systematic research on emotions around 1866, he began to collect observations …
Darwin in letters,1870: Human evolution
Summary
The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the year at work on the Descent of Man & Selection in relation to Sex’. Descent was the culmination of over three decades of observations and reflections on…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1870 is aptly summarised by the brief entry Darwin made in his journal: ‘The whole of the …
Darwin and Human Nature
Summary
There is substantial correspondence to illuminates Darwin’s published work on human evolution in Descent of Man and Expression of the Emotions. The letter sets and discussion questions presented here focus on nineteenth-century debates about the unity of…
Matches: 1 hits
- … There is substantial correspondence to illuminates Darwin’s published work on human evolution in …
Sierra Leone, Africa
Summary
Expression, surprise, blushing
Matches: 1 hits
- … Various observations on expression in West Africa from traveller Winwood Reade. …
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: 1 hits
- … I am merely slaving over the sickening work of preparing new Editions …
Accra, Africa
Summary
Hand to mouth astonishment
Matches: 1 hits
- … The explorer Winwood Reade sends brief observations on expression. …
Lagos, Africa
Summary
Idea of beauty
Matches: 1 hits
- … The traveller Winwood Reade sends reflections on the West African idea of female beauty. …
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…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘ Our ancestor was an animal which breathed water, had a swim-bladder, a great swimming …
The "wicked book": Origin at 157
Summary
Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 November 1859. To celebrate we have uploaded hundreds of new images of letters, bringing the total number you can look at here to over 9000 representing more than…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Origin is 157 years old. (Probably) the most famous book in science was published on 24 …
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 …
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 …
