Charles Darwin Online

The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online

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Darwin Papers & Manuscripts

This is the largest collection of Darwin's handwritten manuscripts and private papers ever published.

An introduction

'I defy anyone, not familiar with my handwriting & odd arrangements to make out my M.S. till fairly copied'
Darwin to John Murray 31 March [1859]

A page from Darwin's Journal (1838)Charles Darwin's private papers and handwritten manuscripts are preserved in public institutions and private collections around the world.

Darwin Online provides images of c. 20,000 of these, making it the largest collection ever published. The online images are mostly scans from copies of early black and white microfilms produced by the Cambridge University Library Imaging Service, mostly in the 1990s. For online publication now a slight colour tint has been added to many and the brightness and contrast have been digitally enhanced. Please note that many of the Darwin papers have been re-catalogued since microfilming in the 1990s. In some cases items have be re-ordered or moved to other volumes in the archive. In such cases the electronic images may not match the current arrangement of the papers in Cambridge University Library.

All in all Darwin wrote 25 books, beginning with

1839 late May..The three volume narrative of the Beagle voyage "Journal of Researches into the Natural History and Geology of the Countries Visited During the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle" was published. This was the "three author" edition by Capt. Philip King, Capt. Robert FitzRoy, and Charles Darwin. Published by Henry Colburn Publishers of London.

and ending with...

1881 October
"The Formation of Vegetable Mould, through the Actions of Worms, with Observations on Their Habits" was published by John Murray publishers of London.