Scriptures for Life

This sixth edition of The Origin of Species was published in 1876. It is the last edition on which Darwin himself worked before his death in 1882, and offers a useful complement to the 2009 scholarly edition, edited by Jim Endersby and published by Cambridge University Press in Darwin's bicentennial year. The sixth edition contains a 'historical sketch' in which Darwin reviews the many works by eminent European and American scientists – beginning with Lamarck in 1801 – in which ideas of evolutionary species change and of natural selection were touched on but not developed. This edition, like all from the second onwards, contains the words 'by the Creator', controversially added to the famous last sentence in the book: 'There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one...'

Published amid a firestorm of controversy in 1859, this is a book that changed the world. Reasoned and well-documented in its arguments, it offers coherent views of natural selection, adaptation, the

The publication of Darwin’s The Origin of Species in 1859 marked a dramatic turning point in scientific thought. The volume had taken Darwin more than twenty years to publish, in part because he envis

Introduction by Edward J. Larson ?Perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of scientific inquiry, The Origin of Species sold out its first printing on the very day it was publishe

Introduction by Edward J. Larson ? ?Perhaps the most readable and accessible of the great works of scientific inquiry, The Origin of Species sold out its first printing on the very day it was publishe

This three-volume life of Charles Darwin, published five years after his death, was edited by his son Francis, who was his father's collaborator in experiments in botany and who after his death took on the responsibility of overseeing the publication of his remaining manuscript works and letters. In the preface to the first volume, Francis Darwin explains his editorial principles: 'In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author.' Among the family history, anecdotes and reminiscences of scientific colleagues is a short autobiographical essay which Charles Darwin wrote for his children and grandchildren, rather than for publication. This account of Darwin the man has never been bettered.

This book, the first of three-volumes detailing the life of Charles Darwin, published five years after his death, was edited by his son Francis, who was his father's collaborator in experiments in botany and who after his death took on the responsibility of overseeing the publication of his remaining manuscript works and letters. In the preface to the first volume, Francis Darwin explains his editorial principles: 'In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author.' Among the family history, anecdotes and reminiscences of scientific colleagues is a short autobiographical essay which Charles Darwin wrote for his children and grandchildren, rather than for publication. This account of Darwin the man has never been bettered.

This book, the second of three-volumes detailing the life of Charles Darwin, published five years after his death, was edited by his son Francis, who was his father's collaborator in experiments in botany and who after his death took on the responsibility of overseeing the publication of his remaining manuscript works and letters. In the preface to the first volume, Francis Darwin explains his editorial principles: 'In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author.' Among the family history, anecdotes and reminiscences of scientific colleagues is a short autobiographical essay which Charles Darwin wrote for his children and grandchildren, rather than for publication. This account of Darwin the man has never been bettered.

This book, the third of three-volumes detailing the life of Charles Darwin, published five years after his death, was edited by his son Francis, who was his father's collaborator in experiments in botany and who after his death took on the responsibility of overseeing the publication of his remaining manuscript works and letters. In the preface to the first volume, Francis Darwin explains his editorial principles: 'In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my father's personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author.' Among the family history, anecdotes and reminiscences of scientific colleagues is a short autobiographical essay which Charles Darwin wrote for his children and grandchildren, rather than for publication. This account of Darwin the man has never been bettered.

This book, published in 1881, was the result of many years of experimentation and observation by Darwin in the open-air laboratory of his garden at Down House in Kent. As he wrote in his introduction, the subject of soil disturbance by worms 'may appear an insignificant one, but we shall see that it possesses some interest'. He goes on to demonstrate the immensity – in size and over time – of the accumulated tiny movements of soil by earthworms, and their vital role in aerating the soil and breaking down vegetable material to keep the topsoil, the growing medium for all plant life and thus vital to human existence, fertile and healthy. At a time when there is huge interest in growing food organically and without using artificial fertilisers, Darwin's insights are as important, and his descriptions of his experiments as fascinating, as they were in the late nineteenth century.

Charles Darwin's health improved substantially in 1866 under a dietary and exercise regime prescribed by his physician Henry Bence Jones. With renewed vigour, he worked steadily on his manuscript of Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication, submitting all but the final chapter to his publisher in December. He also worked on the fourth, and much revised, edition of Origin which was delivered to printers in July, and preparations were begun for a third German edition of Origin. His improved health allowed him a more active social life. At Down, Darwin entertained a number of scientific colleagues whom he had known previously only through correspondence. He also made his first appearance in London scientific society in many years, touring the Zoological Gardens at Regent's Park, and appearing at a soirée at the Royal Society.

Everyone has heard of Darwinism, but few are familiar with Darwin the man. Here we have the story of his life told by the man himself. Charles Darwin's autobiographical recollections were written for

The Correspondence of Charles Darwin provides, for the first time, full, authoritative texts of all known and available letters to and from Charles Darwin. The letters are accompanied by detailed explanatory footnotes and supplementary materials, and offer unparalleled insight into Darwin's experiments, thoughts, friendships, and family life. Volume 13 of this continuing series contains letters for 1865, when Darwin published his long paper on climbing plants and continued working on his book, The Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication. In this year, Robert FitzRoy, former captain of HMS Beagle, committed suicide; Darwin's great friend Joseph Dalton Hooker became director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; and Charles Lyell and John Lubbock quarrelled over an alleged incident of plagiarism. The volume also contains a supplement of over 100 letters discovered or redated since the series began publication, including a fascinating collection of letters written when Darwin was

The Correspondence of Charles Darwin provides, for the first time, the full, authoritative texts of all known and available letters to and from Charles Darwin, the originator of the theory of evolution by natural selection. The letters are accompanied by detailed explanatory footnotes and relevant supplementary materials, and offer unparalleled insight into Darwin's experiments, thoughts, friendships, and family life. Volume 12 of this continuing series contains letters for 1864, when Darwin, despite continuing illness, was carrying out botanical experiments and working on his book, The Variation of Plants and Animals under Domestication. The volume also sheds light on the worldwide reception of Darwin's theory, with letters from correspondents in the United States and Germany, and also on the continuing controversy in Britain, especially with the award of the Royal Society's prestigious Copley Medal to Darwin at the end of the year.

This volume includes many letters not previously published, and chronicles a year that was enlivened by scientific controversy and filled with scientific queries and discussions relating to Darwin's transmutation theory. His love of botany and his expanding experimental programme is well depicted by correspondence with professional botanists, horticulturalists, and hobbyists. Nine appendixes complement the letters by providing additional information from the Darwin Archive and from nineteenth-century publications. The letters also provide glimpses of life among the Victorian gentry, and reveal the practical and emotional support Darwin received from his family. Awarded the Founder's Medal of the Society of the History of Natural History, and the Modern Language Association of America's first Morton N. Cohen Award for a distinguished edition of letters.

The correspondence in this volume reveals Darwin carefully monitoring the response to The Origin of Species. Early in 1861 he completed the preparation of a third and much-revised edition, using the opportunity to answer his critics. As these letters make clear, Darwin understood the importance of support from younger scientists for the future of his theory. Darwin's long-time supporters - including Asa Gray, Charles Lyell and Joseph Dalton Hooker - also feature largely in his correspondence. Escaping the confines of collating and writing up his work on variation in domesticated animals and plants, Darwin plunged into detailed studies of insectivorous plants and orchid pollination. On a more personal side, the correspondence details Darwin in the role of solicitous father ensuring a secure future for his son William. The letters in Volume 9 provide another indispensable collection for those interested in Darwin's life, work and world.

The letters in this volume cover two of the most momentous years in Darwin's life. Begun in 1856 and the fruit of twenty years of study and reflection, Darwin's manuscript on the species question was a little more than half finished, and at least two years from publication, when in June 1858 Darwin unexpectedly received a letter and a manuscript from Alfred Russel Wallace indicating that he too had independently formulated a theory of natural selection. The letters detail the various stages in the preparation of what was to become one of the world's most famous works: Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, published by John Murray in November 1859. They reveal the first impressions of Darwin's book given by his most trusted confidants, and they relate Darwin's anxious response to the early reception of his theory by friends, family members, and prominent naturalists. This volume provides the capstone to Darwin's remarkable efforts for more than two decades to

The correspondence in this volume reveals the two sides of Darwin's life in a new intensity. It opens with a family tragedy in the death of Darwin's oldest and best loved daughter, Anne, and goes on to show how Darwin sought relief from his loss through work, with a single-minded but increasingly weary commitment to the completion of his cirripede monographs. In September 1854, as soon as the final proofs of the last barnacle volume had been returned to the printer, Darwin threw himself into a resumption of his species work. He followed up old ideas by initiating new experiments and establishing a worldwide correspondence that encompassed geographical distribution, variation, and plant and animal breeding. The wealth of letters through 1855 makes evident the frenzy of intellectual activity that followed Darwin's terse announcement in his diary: 'Sept. 9th (1854) began sorting notes for Species Theory …'

This is the third volume of the complete edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. For the first time full authoritative texts of Darwin's letters are available, edited according to modern textual editorial principles and practice. The letters in this volume were written during the years 1844–6. By 1844 Darwin had become an established figure within the circle of London naturalists and his life at Down had assumed the regularity that the responsibility for a thriving and growing household entailed. Despite his move to rural Kent, Darwin was not isolated, and this volume shows how frequent were his trips to London and further afield, how regular his meetings with his scientific colleagues, and how extensive his network of correspondents.

This volume inaugurates a complete edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. For the first time full authoritative texts of Darwin's letters are available, edited according to modern textual editorial principles and practice. The first volume of the edition contains the letters of the years 1821–1836. They begin with one written to Darwin at the age of twelve and continue through his school days at Shrewsbury, his two years as a medical student at Edinburgh, the undergraduate years at Cambridge, and his five years of exploration and learning during the voyage of the Beagle. These were Darwin's years of initiation and preparation for a life of science. In the earliest letters Darwin appears already keenly interested in natural history and an avid collector of minerals, plants, marine invertebrates, and insects - especially beetles. The letters of the succeeding years tell the story of the young Darwin's development up to his return to England when, at the age of twenty-seven, he

Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species changed the way we think about life on earth. The controversial theory of natural selection proposed in this book made Darwin internationally famous and put the issue of evolution at the center of a fierce debate. Some 150 years after the book's first publication, this battle still rages. Appearing here in this beautiful foil-stamped edition, On the Origin of Species includes a fascinating preface by George Davidson and includes over 100 delicately detailed and informative contemporary illustrations, many of them relating to Darwin's discoveries on H.M.S. Beagle. The text used for this edition was the last to be published during Darwin's lifetime and is considered to be the definitive version.