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Charles Darwin has become synonymous with his theories of evolution and natural selection. These concepts have been both an unending source of enlightenment as well as controversy for professionals and laymen alike since the mid-nineteenth century. For 150 years, Darwin’s work has been heralded as a milestone in modern thinking and condemned as sacrilege of the worst kind.

But who was Charles Darwin the person? The husband, the father, the friend?

This spring Cambridge University Press is proud to present the first two in a series of Darwin related titles: Origins: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin, 1822-1859 and Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin, 1860-1870 (both July 17, 2008).

Edited by leading Darwin experts Frederick Burkhardt, Samantha Evans, and Alison Pearn, the letters in Origins and Evolution cover Darwin’s life between late adolescence and middle age. Here, without commentary, is Charles Darwin in his own words.

To his son:

"Uncle Harry was here this morning, and we were still telling him that we had settled for you to be a Barrister (he was on) and his first question was, “Has he the gift of gab?” But then he added, “he has got industry, and that is by far the most important of all.” Good night, my dear old fellow & future Lord Chancellor of all England."

On writing his master work:

"I am working very hard at my subject of the variation and origin of the species, and am getting M.S. ready for press, but when I shall publish, Heaven only knows. I have been for 19 years with this subject before me; but it is too great for me."

Answering “fan mail”:

"My opinion is not worth more than that of any other man who has thought on such subjects, & it would be folly in me to give it. I sincerely wish that this note had not been as utterly valueless as it is."

Taken together, these letters reveal the man behind the hype of evolution, a person who was loving, humble, hard working, and who had sorrows and arguments and doubts.

ENDS

Notes for Editors:

Frederick Burkhardt

Frederick Burkhardt (1912-2007) first conceived of a project to locate, research, and publish all of Charles Darwins correspondence in 1974, and, by the time of his death, had seen fifteen volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin into print. Following a PhD in philosophy from Columbia and a Bachelor of Letters from Oxford, Burkhardt served with the OSS in the Second World War, and in the US administration of Berlin in its aftermath. He was president of Bennington College, Vermont, and then president of the American Council of Learned Societies in New York. He was a trustee and then chairman of New York Public Library and a member of New York Citys Board of Higher Education. In 2003 Fred was awarded the Thomas Jefferson Gold Medal of the American Philosophical Society - its highest honor. He was an honorary fellow of Clare Hall, Cambridge.

Samantha Evans

Samantha Evans has a BA and PhD in Classics from Cambridge University. She has worked as an editor for various publishing companies before joining the Darwin Correspondence Project in 1997. She’s currently engaged in research, editorial, and production work for the project, and is an affiliated research scholar of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science in Cambridge.

Alison Pearne

Alison Pearn is Assistant Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project at the University of Cambridge where she has worked as a researcher and editor since 1996, and has so far collaborated on seven volumes of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin. She has an MA from Oxford and a PhD from Cambridge, both in history. She is an affiliated scholar of the History and Philosophy of Science Department, Cambridge University.

Editor Alison Pearne is available for interviews.

Origins: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin, 1822-1859 $28.00 | 280 Pages | ISBN: 978-0-521-89862-1

Evolution: Selected Letters of Charles Darwin, 1860-1870$28.00 | 350 Pages │ ISBN: 978-0-521-87412-0

Both books were edited by Frederick Burkhardt, Samantha Evans, & Alison Pearn and were published by Cambridge Univeristy Press on July 17, 2008.