How is this book unique? Font adjustments & biography included Unabridged (100% Original content) Illustrated About Life and Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume 1 by Charles Darwin "The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin - Volume 1 is a book published in 1887 edited by Francis Darwin about his father Charles Darwin. It contains a selection of 87 letters from the correspondence of Charles Darwin, an autobiographical chapter written by Charles Darwin for his family, and an essay by Thomas Huxley ""On the reception of the 'Origin of Species'"". It was published by Darwin's publisher John Murray. The autobiographical chapter was edited by Francis to remove references to his father's views on religion. These were later reinstated and published as The Autobiography of Charles Darwin in 1958 by Charles's granddaughter (and Francis's niece) Nora Barlow. The book was the first real biography of Charles Darwin, excepting obituaries, and thus the foundation of the Darwin Industry. Further volumes of letters followed - More Letters of Charles Darwin in 1903. Charles's wife Emma Darwin's correspondence was published by Charles and Emma's daughter (Frank's sister) Henrietta Litchfield in 1905/1915 as Emma Darwin: A Century of Family Letters. The book received extensive reviews in The Times and The Manchester Guardian.The book was later described by The Times as ""one of the best biographies ever written"" and ""In the selection and arrangement of the material he [Francis Darwin] was chiefly guided by a wish to portray his father's personal character, and he succeeded in a remarkable degree in giving a true picture of the man and the student, the methods of Darwin's work and the gradual development of his opinions."""

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From 1965–1968, I held an Agricultural Research Council Research Fellowship at Christ’s College, Cambridge. Later in 1981, when I was a Visiting Fellow in the Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge and renewed my contacts with Christ’s College, my friend and colleague David Coombe, a Fellow of Christ’s College, informed me that a collection of letters of Charles Darwin had just been - covered in the Library storeroom, underneath the College. I had always maintained an interest in Charles Darwin, from the early age of thirteen, when I had rst read his books, with I might say some dif culty! This collection was the 155 letters of Charles Darwin to his second cousin William Darwin Fox, which had been given in trust to the College, in 1909, by members of the Fox family at the time of the Darwin Centenary celebrations. I was allowed access to these 155 letters and at that time made my own tr- scriptions. It seemed to me that this was a magni cent account of the lives of two naturalists of the nineteenth century, starting at the time that they were at Christ’s together, in 1828, and going to 1880 when W D Fox died – just two years short of the death of Charles Darwin in 1882. Of course this valuable resource had not gone unnoticed before. Darwin’s son, Francis Darwin had been given the letters in the 1880s, when he was preparing his Life and Letters of Charles Darwin in 3 volumes.

Excerpt from The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 1 of 2: Including an Autobiographical Chapter Joseph Hooker for the means of illustrating my father's life. The readers of these pages will, I think. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. 1 of 3: Including an Autobiographical Chapter Of letters addressed to my father I have not made much use. It was his custom to file all letters received, and when his slender stock of files (spits as he called them) was exhausted, he would burn the letters of several years, in order that he might make use of the liberated spits. This process, carried on for years, destroyed nearly all letters received before 1862. After that date he was persuaded to keep the more interesting letters, and these are preserved in an accessible form. I have attempted to give, in Chapter III., some account or his manner of working. During the last eight years of his life I acted as his assistant, and thus had an opportunity of knowing something of his habits and methods. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.