Charles Darwin's Notebooks from the Voyage of the Beagle
This is the first full edition of the notebooks used by Darwin during his epic voyage in the Beagle. It contains transcriptions of all fifteen notebooks, which now survive as some of the most precious documents in the history of science. The notebooks record the entire range of Darwin's interests and activities during the Beagle journey, with observations on geology, zoology, botany, ecology, barometer and thermometer readings, ethnography, anthropology, archaeology and linguistics, along with maps, drawings, financial records, shopping lists, reading notes, essays and personal diary entries. Some of Darwin's critical discoveries and experiences, made famous through his own publications, are recorded in their most immediate form in the notebooks, and published here for the first time. The notebook texts are accompanied by full editorial apparatus and introductions explaining Darwin's actions at each stage, focussing on discoveries that were pivotal to convincing him that life on Earth had evolved.
- Unique in containing new and previously unpublished accounts of Darwin's activities and interests on the Beagle,by Darwin himself
- Editor's introduction to each notebook explains the notebook's relationship with the revolutionary importance of Darwin's work on the Beagle
- Definitive edition with a general introduction, editorial apparatus and appendix, which highlights the importance of the entire voyage - not just the Galapagos - to Darwin's theory of evolution
Reviews & endorsements
"Gordon Chancellor and John Van Wyhe are to be thanked for doing this onerous job and doing it so carefully and thoughtfully be providing nice introductions to the notebooks and careful editorial annotations throughout."
Michael Ruse, The Quarterly Review of Biology
"The transcriptions of the notebooks will excite naturalists and historians of science. Recommended."
J.S. Schwartz, Choice Magazine
"This impressive book comes with a detailed chronology indicating where Darwin was for about every day between 1832 and 1836, plus appendixes, bibliography, and a detailed index. All in all, this hefty Charles Darwin’s Notebooks from the Voyage of the ‘Beagle’ is a meticulously edited piece, for advanced scholars in natural sciences, history of science, palaeontology, and anthropology. It provides some interesting dimensions about how scientific observation was made two centuries ago."
Yves Laberge, PaleoAnthropology
Product details
July 2009Hardback
9780521517577
650 pages
246 × 173 × 33 mm
1.43kg
312 b/w illus. 10 maps 3 tables
Available
Table of Contents
- Foreword by Richard Darwin Keynes
- Introduction
- Acknowledgements
- List of illustrations
- The Notebooks: Cape de Verds, Rio, Buenos Ayres, Falkland, B. Blanca, St. Fe, Banda Oriental, Port Desire, Valparaiso, Santiago, Galapagos, Coquimbo, Copiapò, Despoblado, Sydney
- Expedition equipment
- Chronological register
- Bibliography
- Index.