Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle

first separate issue of the voyage of the beagle

First edition, first separate issue of The Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin's first formal publication and one of the great classics of travel writing. Originally published in the same year as part of Captain Fitzroy's three-volume account The Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M. Ships Adventure and Beagle, this issue comprises sheets from that print run with cancel title and half-title. The text appeared under several different titles until 1905, when the name by which it is now commonly known was first used.

'The five years of the voyage were the most important event in Darwin's intellectual life and in the history of biological science. Darwin sailed with no formal scientific training. He returned a hard-headed man of science, knowing the importance of evidence, almost convinced that species had not always been as they were since the creation but had undergone change. He also developed doubts about the value of the scriptures as a trustworthy guide to the history of the earth and of man, with the result that he gradually became an agnostic. The experiences of his five years in the Beagle, how he dealt with them, and what they led to, built up into a process of epoch-making importance in the history of thought' (Gavin de Beer, Dictionary of Scientific Biography). Darwin would later write of the expedition that it 'determined my whole career' (Autobiography, 76).

First edition, first issue; 8vo; 2 engraved folding charts, 16-page publisher's ads dated August 1839 and 8-page prospectus at rear, a few small pencil notes and marks, the second folding chart with a short closed tear at the gutter, some spotting and offsetting to contents, primarily the charts, early and late leaves, and edges of text block; original green cloth rebacked with the original spine laid down, titles to spine gilt, boards blocked in blind, yellow endpapers, some marks and wax residue to the front endpapers, binding rubbed and bumped with wear at the corners, very good condition; 615pp.

Freeman 11; Hook & Norman, The Norman Library of Science and Medicine 584.