Darwin Correspondence Project |

Meet the correspondents

CRICHTON-BROWNE-J-01-00677.jpg James Crichton-Browne	TREAT-M-L-A-01-04796.jpg Mary Treat	WALLACE-A-R-02-04935.jpg Alfred Russel Wallace	FITZROY-R-01-05660.jpg Robert FitzRoy
BECKER-L-E-01-00356.jpg Lydia Becker	john_maurice_herbert-1.jpg John Maurice Herbert	BUSK-G-01-00760.jpg George Busk	george_peacock.jpg George Peacock

German and Dutch photograph albums

Darwin Day 2018: To celebrate Darwin's 209th birthday, we present two lavishly produced albums of portrait photographs which Darwin received from continental admirers 141 years ago. These unusual gifts from Germany and the Netherlands are made available online for the first time through a collaboration with English Heritage and Cambridge University Digital Library.

http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/56605#page/26/mode/1up

Drosera rotundiflora, figures 4 & 5 from Insectivorous Plants

Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library. Digitised by Princeton Theological Seminary Library (archive.org)

All Darwin's letters from 1873 go online for the anniversary of Origin

To celebrate the 158th anniversary of the publication of Origin of species on 24 November, the full transcripts and footnotes of over 500 letters from and to Charles Darwin in 1873 are now available online. Read about Darwin's life in 1873 through his letters, or see a full list of his 1873 letters. We have also added a page debunking some common myths and misconceptions about Darwin's life and work, where you can find out that Darwin did not introduce the term 'survival of the fittest' and he was not a stuffy father or an atheist.

Volume 25 (1877) now available

Flowers, bloom, a son married . . . and a suspended monkey in Cambridge at Darwin's honorary LLD ceremony. Volume 25 of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin is now available. Read more about Darwin's life in 1877 here.

https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letters/darwins-letters-timeline

New features for Charles Darwin's 208th birthday

The website has been updated with an interactive timeline (try it!) and enhanced secondary school resources for ages 11-14. What's more, the full texts of the letters for 1872 are now online for the first time, and a selection of Darwin's correspondence with women has been published in print.

William Winwood Reade

CUL Misc.7.91.18

Cambridge University Library

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings

‘I am getting sick of insectivorous plants’ Darwin confessed in January1875. 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 with the zoologist St George Jackson Mivart. In April and early May, Darwin was occupied with a heated debate over vivisection, and at the end of the year, he campaigned vigorously on behalf of a young zoologist, whose blackballing by the Linnean Society infuriated him: ‘I have not felt so angry for years.’

William Bernhard Tegetmeier

CUL DAR 193: 22

Cambridge University Library

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

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 source for much of his research he amassed data, carried out breeding experiments, and struggled with statistical analysis. Several of his experiments: seeds would not germinate; beans failed to cross; newly-hatched molluscs refused to do what he hoped. Most significant in terms of Darwin’s future, however, was the beginning of his correspondence with Alfred Russel Wallace.

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-07984/35

The volcano of Mt Osorno, Chile, from a contemporary sketch by the Beagle’s artist, Conrad Martens

CUL Add. 7984

Cambridge University Library

Darwin’s earthquakes

Darwin experienced his first earthquake in 1834, but it was a few months later that he was really confronted with their power. Travelling north along the coast of Chile, Darwin and Robert FitzRoy, captain of HMS Beagle, were confronted with a series of violent natural events that they were perfectly placed to study.

Tweets by @MyDearDarwin

Read and search the full texts of more than 9,000 of Charles Darwin’s letters, and ﬁnd information on 6,000 more. Discover complete transcripts of all known letters Darwin wrote and received up to the year 1873.

Darwin for Schools

Discover our new and improved schools resources for 11-14 year olds.

Visit the schools section

Darwin's letters: a timeline

Explore the letters to and from Charles Darwin over time

Darwin-Human-Nature.jpg

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-DAR-00053-00001
Darwin and human nature - Expression photos
after CUL DAR 53.1: C38r, C52r, C72r & C74r
Cambridge University Library

Human nature
MS-DAR-00219-00012-000-00009.jpg

Some of the Darwin’s relaxing at Down House
CUL DAR 219.12: 9
Cambridge University Library

Home and family
MS-DAR-00121-000-p36-Tree-of-Life.jpg

Darwin's Tree of Life sketch from his “B” notebook on Transmutation of Species
CUL DAR 121, page 36
Cambridge University Library

Evolution
Darwin-Geology.jpg

Some of Darwin's geological drawings
after CUL DAR 44: 13 & 33
Cambridge University Library

Geology
Origin-Spines.jpg

http://wellcomeimages.org/
6 editions of 'The Origin of Species' by Charles Darwin
L0051092
Wellcome Library, London
CC BY 4.0

Origin
MS-ADD-07984-000-00031.jpg

http://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-07984/31
The Adventure and Beagle at Point Punta Arenas and Isla de Cochinos, Chiloé, by Conrad Martens
CUL Add. 7984: 19
Cambridge University Library

Voyage of HMS Beagle

Darwin Correspondence Project

Meet the correspondents

CRICHTON-BROWNE-J-01-00677.jpg

TREAT-M-L-A-01-04796.jpg

WALLACE-A-R-02-04935.jpg

FITZROY-R-01-05660.jpg

BECKER-L-E-01-00356.jpg

john_maurice_herbert-1.jpg

BUSK-G-01-00760.jpg

george_peacock.jpg

German and Dutch photograph albums

Drosera-rotundiflora.jpg

All Darwin's letters from 1873 go online for the anniversary of Origin

Volume 25_Jacket.gif

Volume 25 (1877) now available

Timeline 1851.jpeg

New features for Charles Darwin's 208th birthday

READE-W-W-01-03950.jpg

Darwin in letters, 1875: Pulling strings

TEGETMEIER-W-B-01-04682.jpg

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

MS-ADD-07984-000-00035.jpg

Darwin’s earthquakes

Darwin for Schools

Darwin's letters: a timeline

Darwin-Religion.jpg

Darwin-Human-Nature.jpg

MS-DAR-00219-00012-000-00009.jpg

MS-DAR-00121-000-p36-Tree-of-Life.jpg

Darwin-Geology.jpg

Origin-Spines.jpg

MS-ADD-07984-000-00031.jpg

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Meet the correspondents

Darwin for Schools

Darwin's letters: a timeline