Origins
Subtitle: selected letters of Charles Darwin 1822-1859
By: edited by Frederick Burkhardt ; foreword by Stephen Jay Gould.
Contributors: Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.; Burkhardt, Frederick, 1912-2007
Edition: Rev. ed.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2008
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 253
ISBN-13: 9780521898621
Subjects: Darwin, Charles, -- 1809-1882; Naturalists -- England -- Correspondence
Genres: Correspondence.
Work titles: Correspondence.
Description: "Charles Darwin changed the direction of modern thought by establishing the basis of evolutionary biology. This volume brings together a fascinating selection of his letters, offering a glimpse of his daily experiences, scientific observations, his personal concerns, and friendships. Beginning with a charming set of letters written to an unnamed friend at the age of twelve, through his university years in Edinburgh and Cambridge up to the publication of his most famous work, On the Origin of Species in 1859, these letters chart one of the most exciting periods of Darwin's life, including the voyage of the Beagle and subsequent studies which led him to develop his theory of natural selection. Darwin's vivid writing style enables the reader to see the world through his own eyes, as he matures from grubby schoolboy in Shropshire to one of the most controversial thinkers of modern times."--Book jacket.
Notes: A chart of the Wedgewood and Darwin's family tree on front end papers and a map of the voyage of the Beagle on back end papers.

"The letters in the first edition of this volume were selected from the first seven volumes of The correspondence of Charles Darwin published by Cambridge University Press (1985-91). The revised edition also includes some more recently discovered letters written by Darwin as a child in 1822, and published in a supplement to volume 13 of the Correspondence (CUP 2002) -- Editor's note on the text.

First published under the title Charles Darwin's letters, 1996.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-242) and index.