The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 5, 1851-1855

by Charles Darwin, Sydney Smith, Frederick Burkhardt

Overview

The correspondence in this volume reveals the two sides of Darwin's life in a new intensity. It opens with a tragedy, the death of Darwin's oldest and best loved daughter, Anne, and goes on to show how Darwin sought relief from his loss through his 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..." These letters are indispensable for the Darwin scholar both historically and biologically, while they provide the general reader with a fascinating look at the scientist at work.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521255912
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/08/1990
Series:	The Correspondence of Charles Darwin , #5
Pages:	752
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 1.77(d)

About the Author

Date of Birth:

February 12, 1809

Date of Death:

April 19, 1882

Place of Birth:

Shrewsbury, England

Place of Death:

London, England

Education:

B.A. in Theology, Christ¿s College, Cambridge University, 1831

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; List of letters; Introduction; Acknowledgments; Note on editorial policy; List of provenances; Darwin/Wedgwood genealogy; Abbreviations and symbols; Part I. The Correspondence, 1851-55: Appendices; Manuscript alterations and comments; Bibliography; Biographical register and index to correspondents; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"What more can be said of the continuation of this already famous edition of Darwin's letters, than to repeat that it fully meets the meticulous and thorough scholarship of the four volumes that have preceded it?"-The Quarterly Review of Biologyy and Evolution

"It is difficult to imagine historians of modern science, or of any period, who would not find these volumes worth reading." Jane R. Camerini, Isis

From the Publisher