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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: 24 hits

  • … to read in Notebook C ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). In 1839, these lists were copied and continued in …
  • … in the Royal Society of London (Royal Society of London 1839) has been heavily marked, and quite a …
  • … Pierquin, published in Paris (in 2 vols.), so long ago as 1839 4  [Pierquin de Gembloux 1839]. …
  • … 1814–29] D r  Royle on Himmalaya types [Royle 1839] (read) Smellie Philosophy of …
  • … 12  by Owen in Encyclop. of Anat. & Physiology [R. Owen 1839] Dampier probably worth …
  • … on subjects of science connected with Nat. Theol: [Brougham 1839] on instinct & animal …
  • … 1808] Brit. & Foreign Medical Rev. N o  14. Ap 1839 [Anon. 1839b] Rev. on Walker on …
  • … Smart 17  Beginning of a New School of metaphysic. [Smart 1839] about connection of language & …
  • … [Reimarius 1760] The Highlands & Western Isl ds  letter to Sir W Scott [MacCulloch 1824 …
  • … 1834–40]: In Portfolio of “abstracts” 34  —letter from Skuckard of books on Silk Worm …
  • … 1833] (Boot) Leslie life of Constable [Leslie 1843]. (Emma) (read) M rs  Fry’s Life …
  • … Asiatic Society ]—contains very little Macleay’s letter to D r  Fleming [Macleay 1830] …
  • … [Heer 1854].— Hooker has it.— Very important Hookers letter Jan. 1859 Yules Ava [Yule 1858] …
  • … Public Library. 3  ‘Books … Read’ is in Emma Darwin’s hand. 4  “”Traité …
  • … 6  The text from page [1v.] to page [6] is in Emma Darwin’s hand and was copied from Notebook C, …
  • … to old Aristotle.’ ( LL 3: 252). 10  Emma Darwin wrote ‘7 th ’ instead of “3 d “ …
  • … 12  A mistranscription for ‘Entozoa’ by Emma Darwin. See Notebook C, p. 266 ( Notebooks ). …
  • … wrote ‘Transact’ to replace ‘Journal’ written in Emma Darwin’s hand. 16  Emma Darwin …
  • … of the material from these portfolios is in DAR 205, the letter from William Edward Shuckard to …
  • …  The text from page [1a] to half way down page [5a] is in Emma Darwin’s hand and is a copy of CD’s …
  • … ( Notebooks , pp. 319–28). 55  The letter was addressed to Nicholas Aylward Vigors …
  • … in ink by CD. 73  This entry was written by Emma Darwin. 74  “8 … …
  • … to William Jackson Hooker. See  Correspondence  vol. 3, letter to J. D. Hooker, [5 or 12 November …
  • … 119: 21b Broughton, William Grant. 1832.  A letter in vindication of   the principles of …

Darwin in letters, 1837–1843: The London years to 'natural selection'

Summary

The seven-year period following Darwin's return to England from the Beagle voyage was one of extraordinary activity and productivity in which he became recognised as a naturalist of outstanding ability, as an author and editor, and as a professional…

Matches: 16 hits

  • … years after his return, Darwin became engaged to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood. The letters they …
  • … they show for one another’s sensibilities. Early in 1839 the couple set up house in London and at …
  • … and set in type by November 1837, though not published until 1839, when it appeared as the third …
  • … by Darwin from a suggestion made by his uncle, Josiah Wedgwood II, during one of Darwin’s visits to …
  • … letters have suffered an even more severe loss. In a letter to Lyell’s sister-in-law, Katharine …
  • … of fact . . . on the origin & variation of species” ( Letter to J. S. Henslow, [November 1839] …
  • … that he had a sound solution to what J. F. W. Herschel in a letter to Lyell had called the ‘mystery …
  • … about searching for evidence to support his hypothesis. In a letter to Lyell, [14] September [1838 …
  • … just the same, though I know what I am looking for' ( Letter to G. R. Waterhouse, [26 July …
  • … (Simpson 1961, p. 53). Marriage Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in January 1839. His …
  • … ( Correspondence vol. 2, Appendix III). The letters that Emma and Darwin subsequently exchanged …
  • … correspondence is that Darwin had evidently communicated to Emma that he had doubts about religion, …
  • … as she was, from marrying him. Just after their marriage, Emma states that she has the impression …
  • … there were no doubts as to how one ought to act’ ( Letter from Emma Darwin, [  c.  February 1839] …
  • … for several months (See  Correspondence  vol. 1, letter to Caroline Darwin, 13 October 1834 , …
  • … notebook). See also Allan 1977, pp. 128–30). The letter, on ‘Double flowers’ to the  …

1.2 George Richmond, marriage portrait

Summary

< Back to Introduction Few likenesses of Darwin in his youth survive, although more may once have existed. In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, Arthur Mostyn Owen, offered to send Darwin a watercolour sketch of him, painted many years…

Matches: 15 hits

  • … youth survive, although more may once have existed . In a letter of 1873 an old Shrewsbury friend, …
  • … now at Down House, celebrated his marriage in January 1839 to his cousin Emma Wedgwood; the one of …
  • … estimate of Richmond’s work can be gauged from a letter which Hooker wrote to Darwin some years …
  • … his evolutionary theories.   As early as February 1839, Elizabeth Wedgwood had written to her …
  • … Italy – or would a portrait by Holmes be preferable?’ Emma in response promised, ‘I will go and get …
  • … Richmond did not return from Italy until August or September 1839. Josiah Wedgwood himself wrote to …
  • … arranging ‘to send you Richmond’s pictures of self and Emma’: ‘self’ presumably means Charles, and …
  • … twelve guineas for a portrait of some kind in December 1839, and a further payment of twelve guineas …
  • … was being assembled, so that both the Darwin and the Wedgwood families would have one. It is …
  • … lent Richmond’s watercolour drawings of Charles and Emma, with a note that the one of Charles had an …
  • … – the only one she knew about – to 1840. However, in Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters …
  • … Down House MSS, Darwin’s account books, entry for Dec. 1839. Joseph Hooker, letter to Darwin, 17 …
  • … Murray, 1887), vol. 3, p. 371. Henrietta Litchfield (ed.), Emma Darwin: A Century of Family …
  • … University Press, 1933), frontispiece. Barbara and Hensleigh Wedgwood, The Wedgwood Circle 1730 …
  • … this seemingly conflicts with the indications in Erasmus’s letter of 1866, quoted above.   
 …

Natural Science and Femininity

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters A conflation of masculine intellect and feminine thoughts, habits and feelings, male naturalists like Darwin inhabited an uncertain gendered identity. Working from the private domestic comfort of their homes and exercising…

Matches: 17 hits

  • … Britain? Letters Letter 109 - Wedgwood, J. to Darwin, …
  • … pursuit of real, professional work on his return. Letter 158 - Darwin to Darwin, R. W., …
  • … colour and “beauty” of tropical vegetation. Letter 542 - Darwin to Wedgwood, C. S., [27 …
  • … made up of meals, family time and walks into town with Emma. Letter 555 - Darwin to …
  • … ‘ A Biographical Sketch of an Infant ’. Letter 2781 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [3 May …
  • … them in the north-facing borders of his garden. Letter 2864 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … and “never saw anything so beautiful”. Letter 4230 - Darwin to Gardeners’ Chronicle, [2 …
  • … microscopical spherical bodies found on flowers which Emma had gathered and brought into the house …
  • … linked with his domestic family life. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, [2 …
  • … at least provide Darwin with aesthetic pleasure. Letter 4436 - Darwin to Hooker, J. D., …
  • … he has moved one or two of them into his bedroom. Letter 4469 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin …
  • … before expecting to dedicate his life to science. Letter 4472 - Hooker, J. D. to Darwin …
  • … duty to the public to contribute more than this. Letter 6044 - Darwin to Darwin, G. H., …
  • … and influence to help shape his sons’ fortunes. Letter 6046 - Weir, J. J. to Darwin, …
  • … from the comfort of his “ pretty garden ”. Letter 6139 - Doubleday, H. to Darwin, [22 …
  • … moths all of which were conducted in his home. Letter 6453 - Langton, E. to Wedgwood, S …
  • … attracted to dark spots on the bedroom wallpaper. Letter 10821 - Graham C. C. to Darwin …

Science: A Man’s World?

Summary

Discussion Questions|Letters Darwin's correspondence show that many nineteenth-century women participated in the world of science, be it as experimenters, observers, editors, critics, producers, or consumers. Despite this, much of the…

Matches: 19 hits

  • … In these notes, written shortly before his courtship with Emma, Darwin weighed the pros and cons of …
  • … feminine world of family, home and sociability. Letter 489 - Darwin to Wedgwood, E., …
  • … an hour “with poor Mrs. Lyell sitting by”. Letter 3715 - Claparède, J. L. R. A. E. to …
  • … whose attractions are not those of her sex”. Letter 4038 - Darwin to Lyell, C., [12-13 …
  • … her own steam and is a “first rate critic”. Letter 4377 - Haeckel, E. P. A. to Darwin, …
  • … ornaments in the making of feminine works”. Letter 4441 - Becker, L. E. to Darwin, [30 …
  • … the young, especially ladies, to study nature. Letter 4940 - Cresy, E. to Darwin, E., …
  • … of physiology at Bedford College for girls. Appealing to Emma’s “feminine sympathies”, Cresy is keen …
  • … Anderson is “neither masculine nor pedantic”. Letter 6976 - Darwin to Blackwell, A. B., …
  • … to him as a published science author, is a man. Letter 7314 - Kovalevsky, S. to Darwin, …
  • … Theoriae Functionum Ellipticarum , (1829). Letter 7329 - Murray, J. to Darwin, [28 …
  • … to prick up what little is left of them ears”. Letter 8055 - Hennell, S. S. to Darwin, …
  • … almost out of a woman’s natural thinking”. Letter 8079 - Norton, S. R. to Darwin, [20 …
  • … but has not read the pamphlet herself. Letter 8335 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, [16 May …
  • … narrative so not to lose the interest of women. Letter 8341 - Reade, W. W. to Darwin, …
  • … which will make it more appealing to women. Letter 10746 – Darwin to Dicey, E. M., …
  • … inability to cope well with the sight of blood. Letter 12389 - Johnson, M. to Darwin, …
  • … to have entered the cave “since the flood”. Letter 13414 - Darwin to Harrison, L., [18 …
  • … and possess strong powers of patience. Letter 13607 – Darwin to Kennard, C. A., [9 …

Darwin’s observations on his children

Summary

Charles Darwin’s observations on the development of his children, began the research that culminated in his book The Expression of the emotions in man and animals, published in 1872, and his article ‘A biographical sketch of an infant’, published in Mind…

Matches: 26 hits

  • … races, lunatics, the blind, and animals. And as early as 1839 Darwin had begun to collect …
  • … an aspect of Darwin’s character clearly perceived by Emma during their engagement: ‘You will be …
  • … development from the day of his birth, 27 December 1839, until September 1844. Parallels in the …
  • … period but in far less detail. By September 1844, Henrietta Emma was one year old, and there are a …
  • … 1850; and Horace, born 18 May 1851. It appears to have been Emma who resumed the observations on the …
  • … the notebook and, with the exception of two brief entries by Emma, made all the notes until July …
  • … 1 [9] W. Erasmus. Darwin born. Dec. 27 th . 1839.—[10] During first week. yawned, streatched …
  • … certainly during first fortnight at sudden sounds. & at Emma’s moving 3 [11]  When …
  • … & inwards as in sleep.[14] Six weeks old & 3 days, Emma saw him smile—not only with …
  • … his eyes becoming fixed & the movements of his arms ceasing. Emma argues that his smiles were …
  • … made in the little noises he was uttering that he recognized Emma by sight when she came close to …
  • … been caused by the novelty of the situation producing fear. Emma thinks that when he was vaccinated …
  • … whole expression appearing pleased.— Recognizes Emma Anne & myself perfectly— does not find …
  • … Lady” were repeated.— 26 th . Cried, when Emma left off playing the pianoforte.— Did this …
  • … Anny says Papa pretty clearly—[40] A few days ago Emma gave her doll, but she sensibly shuddered, …
  • … to play with in farther part of room, she immediately led Emma by the hand towards the tea-chest. I …
  • … on quite suddenly.—[43] On the 13 th . of March Emma positively ascertained that what the …
  • … our door N o  12 and N o  11 is in the slit for the Letter box.— he decidedly ran past N o  11 …
  • … has learned them from my sometimes changing the first letter in any word he is using—thus I say …
  • … things & when choleric he will hurl books or sticks at Emma. About a month since; he was running …
  • … “oh kind Doddy” “kind Doddy”— April 2 d . Emma had left her handkerchief on the other side …
  • … th ——42. Willy’s observation on dress very curious: Emma put on a pair of boots, which she had not …
  • … the first day I put on a new dull-coloured trowsers. Emma one morning put on an unconspicuous bonnet …
  • … & then gave him a kiss.— Nov. /54/ Whenever Emma or I came home from a journey, Lenny has …
  • … , pp. 131–2. [6]  Correspondence  vol. 2, letter from Emma Wedgwood, [23 January 1839] . …
  • … and comments section. [10] William Erasmus was Emma and CD’s first child. [11] The …

Religion

Summary

Design|Personal Belief|Beauty|The Church Perhaps the most notorious realm of controversy over evolution in Darwin's day was religion. The same can be said of the evolution controversy today; however the nature of the disputes and the manner in…

Matches: 18 hits

  • … of departure reviews of Origin . The second is a single letter from naturalist A. R. Wallace to …
  • … everything is the result of “brute force”. Letter 2855 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 3 …
  • … nature, as he is in a “muddle” on this issue. Letter 3256 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, …
  • … shares a witty thought experiment about an angel. Letter 3342 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, …
  • … He asks Gray some questions about design. Letter 6167 — Darwin, C. R. to Gray, Asa, 8 …
  • … of my precipice”. Darwin and Wallace Letter 5140 — Wallace, A. R. to Darwin, …
  • … of variations. Darwin and Graham Letter 13230 — Darwin, C. R. to Graham, …
  • … of people, including members of his own family. Letter 441 — Wedgwood, Emma to Darwin, …
  • … about his “honest & conscientious doubts”. Letter 471 — Darwin, Emma to Darwin, C. …
  • … there is a danger in giving up revelation”. Letter 2534 — Kingsley, Charles to Darwin, …
  • … need of an act of intervention to bring change. Letter 2548 — Sedgwick, Adam to Darwin, …
  • … with that knowledge which only He can give me.” Letter 5303 — Boole, M. E. to Darwin, C …
  • … that his theory be compatible with her faith. Letter 5307 — Darwin, C. R. to Boole, M. …
  • … and science should each run its own course. Letter 8070 — Darwin, C. R. to Abbot, F. E. …
  • … “with qualifications”, if he wishes. Letter 8837 — Darwin, C. R. to Doedes, N. D., 2 …
  • … man’s intellect, “but man can do his duty”. Letter 12041 — Darwin, C. R. to Fordyce, …
  • … most correct description of my state of mind”. Letter 12757 — Darwin, C. R. to Aveling, …
  • … as examples to illustrate his ideas on beauty. Letter 4752 — Darwin, C. R. to Lyell, …

Syms Covington

Summary

When Charles Darwin embarked on the Beagle voyage in 1831, Syms Covington was ‘fiddler & boy to Poop-cabin’. Covington kept an illustrated journal of his observations and experiences on the voyage, noting wildlife, landscapes, buildings and people and,…

Matches: 2 hits

  • … extra for secretarial duties, until Darwin’s marriage to Emma Wedgwood in 1839.    Covington …
  • … office, and possibly a general store. Darwin’s  last letter  to Covington was enclosed with a …

Darwin and Fatherhood

Summary

Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten children. It is often assumed that Darwin was an exceptional Victorian father. But how extraordinary was he? The Correspondence Project allows an unusually…

Matches: 9 hits

  • … Charles Darwin married Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and over the next seventeen years the couple had ten …
  • … a result, Darwin rarely spent a day without the company of Emma and at least some of his children. …
  • … they employed eight servants including two nursery maids. Emma actively supervised and assisted with …
  • … to see their father when he was working (Darwin to his wife Emma,  [7-8 February 1845] ). Although …
  • … (Darwin to W. D. Fox,  10 October [1850] ) as he and Emma tried to choose suitable schools and …
  • … children in letters to friends, and the choices that he and Emma made were deliberately conventional …
  • … were favourite family games, and in 1859 he ended a letter to his oldest son with the exclamation ‘I …
  • … (Darwin to his son William,  [30 October 1858] ). In one letter in 1856, he explained his paternal …
  • … the age of twenty-six. This meant that in old age Darwin and Emma continued to share Down House with …

Darwin on marriage

Summary

On 11 November 1838 Darwin wrote in his journal ‘The day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on 29 January 1839. Darwin appears to have written these two notes weighing up the pros and cons of…

Matches: 3 hits

  • … day of days!’. He had proposed to his cousin, Emma Wedgwood, and been accepted; they were married on …
  • … note was written in pencil on the three blank pages of the letter from Leonard Horner, 7 April [1838 …
  • … definite prospect in mind at the time of writing, but in a letter to Charles Lyell, [12 November …

About Darwin

Summary

To many of us, Darwin’s name is synonymous with his theory of evolution by natural selection.  But even before the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, he was publicly known through his popular book about the voyage of the Beagle, and he was…

Matches: 3 hits

  • up to be a devoted family manHe married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and they had ten
  • developed a theory of evolutionIn 1842, Charles and Emma moved just south of London to the
  • his views on evolution in 1858, when Darwin learned by letter that Alfred Russel Wallace had

About Darwin

Summary

To many of us, Darwin’s name is synonymous with his theory of evolution by natural selection.  But even before the publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859, he was publicly known through his popular book about the voyage of the Beagle, and he was…

Matches: 3 hits

  • up to be a devoted family manHe married his cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839 and they had ten
  • developed a theory of evolutionIn 1842, Charles and Emma moved just south of London to the
  • his views on evolution in 1858, when Darwin learned by letter that Alfred Russel Wallace had

Darwin and the Church

Summary

The story of Charles Darwin’s involvement with the church is one that is told far too rarely. It shows another side of the man who is more often remembered for his personal struggles with faith, or for his role in large-scale controversies over the…

Matches: 23 hits

  • … and various dissenting establishments. In the Darwin and Wedgwood households, formal adherence to …
  • … & I can see it even through a grove of Palms.—’ (letter to Caroline Darwin, 25–6 April [1832] …
  • … wrote to the contrary: ‘I am sorry to see in your last letter that you still look forward to the …
  • … near the British Museum or some other learned place’ (letter from E. A. Darwin, 18 August [1832] …
  • … it is a sort of scene I never ought to think about—’ (letter to W. D. Fox, [9–12 August] 1835 ). …
  • … the late 1830s, and in correspondence with his fiancée, Emma Wedgwood, in 1838 and 1839, as can be …
  • … of England. The whole family took the sacrament, although Emma used to make the children turn around …
  • … and Charles were buried; later Darwin’s brother Erasmus, Emma’s sister Sarah, Emma herself, and …
  • … church involvement can be attributed to the influence of Emma, whose religious scruples are …
  • … However, what remains is cordial; in the first extant letter of the correspondence, Darwin wrote to …
  • … (a local charity), which he administered from 1848 to 1869 (letter to J. B. Innes, [8 May 1848] …
  • … he would make an excellent Guardian [of the Poor Fund]’ (letter to J. W. Lubbock, 28 March [1854] …
  • … club the use of his own lawn for its meetings (Moore 1985; letter to J. S. Henslow, 17 January …
  • … the family’s dog, Quiz, when he moved away from Down (letter to J. B. Innes, 15 December [1861] ) …
  • … was considered to be a cross between a cow and a red deer (letter from J. B. Innes, 7 December …
  • … ancestor. Please think of my request favourably—’ (letter from J. B. Innes, 26 May 1871 ). Indeed …
  • … and leaves Moses to take care of himself. Letter from J. B. Innes, 1 December 1878 …
  • … take care of the financial complications he left behind (letter from S. J. O’H. Horsman, 2 June …
  • … seemed to have made off with the church’s organ fund (letter to J. B. Innes, 15 June [1868] ). So …
  • … Ffinden strongly disapproved of the Darwins. In his eyes, Emma’s Unitarian leanings and Darwin’s …
  • … schools in this period, the Down school was Anglican. Emma wished it to be used as a reading room …
  • … even altered the habits of the household in order to allow Emma and the children to attend his …
  • … increase his desire to actually attend Sunday services with Emma and the children. Darwin’s life in …

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: 3 hits

  • … this time, 1854, Darwin had become a family man. In January 1839, he had married his cousin Emma
  • … the director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. In his letter of 11 January 1844 , Darwin …
  • … ‘big book’, when, in June 1858, he received the famous letter from Wallace in which was enclosed a …