Browse Items (34 total)

A letter from Darwin’s niece, Lucy Wedgwood, containing observations of Oxlips made at Leith Hill Place, Surrey.

Darwin proudly references his son George’s technical drawing.

Darwin praises Henrietta’s edit of a pre-publication manuscript of Descent.

Darwin writes to his daughter Henrietta while she holidayed in Italy and France requesting her help with the editing of Descent. Darwin clearly had great faith in Henrietta’s ability both to understand his work and to improve his writing style.

Henrietta made a significant contribution to her father’s work, most notably as editor of Descent. Darwin’s correspondence suggests that she was selected as editor less for the civilizing, feminine influence she might exert on his work and more for…

A discussion of Khoisan or ‘Hottentot’ notions of beauty in women, veiled in Latin to protect the sensibilities of Darwin’s popular audience.

Andrew Smith, an army surgeon stationed in South Africa, discusses Khoisan or ‘Hottentot’ notions of beauty in women; in particular their preference for women with large posteriors and lengthened ‘Nymphae’ (inner labia). Too sensitive for a general…

Darwin writes to Zoologist George Robert Gray asking him to proof read his Latin in the Birds section of The Zoology of the Voyage of HMS Beagle (1839).

Darwin asks his son, Francis, and his Cambridge University friends to check his Latin. Latin was not Darwin's strong point and he frequently relied on his sons and colleagues to check his efforts (see letter to George Robert Gray, below).

The…

Like all of Darwin’s children, Francis helped his father from a young age. As a child he and his siblings made observations and collected plant samples. Later in life Francis, classically-educated in Latin, proved a useful source of help for Darwin’s…