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Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | Reason : Evolution and Biology | print version Print | Comments

Document 5000 Darwin letters go online

by Darwin Correspondence Project

Thanks to CJ for the link.

Reposted from:
http://darwin1.caret.cam.ac.uk/content/view/66/35/

See also "The letters"
Charles Darwin envelope
Welcome to the Darwin Correspondence Project's new web site. The main feature of the site is an Online Database with the complete, searchable, texts of around 5,000 letters written by and to Charles Darwin up to the year 1865. This includes all the surviving letters from the Beagle voyage - online for the first time - and all the letters from the years around the publication of Origin of species in 1859.
Monkey
The letter texts, and the contextual notes which help make them accessible, are taken from the first thirteen volumes of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin (Burkhardt et al., Cambridge University Press 1985-).Letters from later volumes will be added on a rolling programme following behind publication of the print edition. Volumes 14 (1866) and 15 (1867) are already published and Volume 16 will be published in 2008.

The database also includes summaries of a further 9,000 letters still to be published.There will be 30 volumes of the print edition in total.Previously unknown letters continue to come to light.

Darwin's letters are a rich source of information on many aspects of 19th century science and history; they are also very readable, and we hope they will be used and enjoyed by a wide audience.

Comments 1 - 9 of 9 | | View Alternate Comment Thread

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1. Comment #41448 by CJ on May 16, 2007 at 6:16 am

 avatarGosh Josh you were so quick off the mark! I'd pointed to the news article not the letter page which is one link away here.

I've correted my link on the previous article.

Other Comments by CJ

2. Comment #41553 by Scott McMeekin on May 16, 2007 at 9:43 am

 avatarThere's something playfully endearing about the image above - is that really "Chas Darwin"? lol.

Looking forward to reading them as my new lunchtime pursuit.

Scott.

Other Comments by Scott McMeekin

3. Comment #41608 by Friend Giskard on May 16, 2007 at 11:46 am

 avatar5000 letters. Wow! What a lot of letters. I haven't even written close to 50 letters in my whole life. I can go for years and years without writing one.

For this rich source of information we must thank the fact that they didn't have telephones in those days.

Other Comments by Friend Giskard

4. Comment #41623 by CJ22 on May 16, 2007 at 12:05 pm

 avatarTrue, but equally they didn't have word processors either. Or even ball-point pens (I'm guessing!). 5000 letters, all hand-written. Mind you, things being what they are, probably half of them are letters to the gas board complaining the last bill was more than it should have been. No wait, that's MY life...

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5. Comment #41624 by Born Again Atheist on May 16, 2007 at 12:05 pm

I was hoping to be able to view actual images of the letters. I didn't see a way to do that. Did I miss something?

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6. Comment #41745 by USA_Limey on May 16, 2007 at 8:01 pm

 avatarHitch puts the boot in on Falwell...

http://kevinmccullough.townhall.com/g/9764c788-1dcb-4aff-a1aa-46266d27eddc

Ouch!

Other Comments by USA_Limey

7. Comment #41778 by Rtambree on May 17, 2007 at 12:29 am

Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society for over 40 years, wrote about 100,000 letters.

What are biographers of today's intellectuals going to use? Emails?

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8. Comment #41798 by CJ22 on May 17, 2007 at 4:47 am

 avatarI read elsewhere that the actual total of Darwin letters was actually 14,000, and that the remaining 9000 will be put online as resources allow.

In reponse to BAA, I think the purpose of this project was to be an academic rather than historical reference, hence the letters are stored as fully searchable documents, rather than unsearchable scans. I agree though it would be nice if some of them were available as scans.

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9. Comment #42805 by neander on May 19, 2007 at 6:35 pm

 avatarA wonderful resource for all of us.

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