The Correspondence of Charles Darwin

This volume is part of the definitive edition of letters written by and to Charles Darwin, the most celebrated naturalist of the nineteenth century. Notes and appendixes put these fascinating and wide-ranging letters in context, making the letters accessible to both scholars and general readers. Darwin depended on correspondence to collect data from all over the world, and to discuss his emerging ideas with scientific colleagues, many of whom he never met in person. The letters are published chronologically. Darwin died in April 1882, but was active in science almost up until the end, raising new research questions and responding to letters about his last book, on earthworms. The volume also contains a supplement of nearly 400 letters written between 1831 and 1880, many of which have never been published before.

• The narrative introduction provides a compact but highly readable account of Darwin's life in 1882, and a review of the supplement of nearly 400 earlier letters
• Complete transcriptions of more than 200 letters Darwin wrote and received in the year 1882, and a supplement of nearly 400 letters written between 1831 and 1880, are of immense value to researchers across a range of disciplines, providing for the first time primary materials on this period of Darwin's life and work
• Clear and concise explanatory notes make the material accessible to both scholars and general readers
• A biographical register provides brief biographical notes for people mentioned in the letters