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The third volume of the complete edition of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, covering the years 1844-6.
The letters in this volume cover two of the most momentous years in Darwin's life. Begun in 1856 and the fruit of twenty years of study and reflection, Darwin's manuscript on the species question was a little more than half finished, and at least two years from publication, when in June 1858 Darwin unexpectedly received a letter and a manuscript from Alfred Russel Wallace indicating that he too had independently formulated a theory of natural selection. The letters detail the various stages in the preparation of what was to become one of the world's most famous works: Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, published by John Murray in November 1859. They reveal the first impressions of Darwin's book given by his most trusted confidants, and they relate Darwin's anxious response to the early reception of his theory by friends, family members, and prominent naturalists. This volume provides the capstone to Darwin's remarkable efforts for more than two decades to solve one of nature's greatest riddles - the origin of species.
"For the first time full authoritative texts of Darwin's are made available, edited according to modern textual editorial principles and practice. Letter-writing was of crucial importance to Darwin's work, not only because his poor health isolated him from direct personal communication with his scientific colleagues but also because the nature of his investigations required communication with naturalists in many fields and in all quarters of the globe. Thus the letters are a mine of information about the work in progress of a creative genius who produced an intellectual revolution." --