Charles Darwin's Notebooks from the Voyage of the Beagle

Cambridge University Press
Edition: Illustrated, 7/2/2009
EAN 9780521517577, ISBN10: 0521517575

Hardcover, 650 pages, 24.6 x 17.3 x 3.3 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

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.

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.