Want to know when Charles Darwin first recorded his doubt about the stability of species? Or are you more interested in the puddings his wife prepared for him? Notes about both 鈥� and reams more 鈥� will appear online this week for the first time.
Until now the manuscripts, which the Darwin family donated to in 1942, have only been seen by a handful of scholars. Now the library has agreed to make some 20,000 items freely available through .
When Darwin Online launched 18 months ago, it hosted electronic versions of everything that Darwin ever published. But these are just the end product of his avid research programme, says project director , a historian of science at Cambridge University.
Advertisement
Pencil sketch
鈥淏ehind every one of Darwin鈥檚 publications, there鈥檚 a mountain of private papers, notes, reading notes, press clippings and things that people sent to him,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ow at the click of a button much of that material will be available to everyone in the world.鈥�
Amongst the mass of new material on the site are several noteworthy documents, including scans of Darwin鈥檚 ornithological notes from the Beagle voyage in which he penned his first recorded doubt about the stability of species.
Then there鈥檚 his first sketch of his species theory, which he jotted down in pencil in 1842. This runs to 61 scanned pages, although almost half of them have been crossed through as he reworked the text. There鈥檚 also the memo written by Darwin鈥檚 wife Emma in 1839 in which she expressed her concerns about his religious doubts.
Hearty puddings
The online dissemination of these private papers is extremely welcome, says , a historian and Darwin鈥檚 great-great-grandson. But they are of limited value to all but the most well-read scholars, he suggests.
鈥淭he manuscripts aren鈥檛 easy to make sense of because Darwin鈥檚 handwriting is just a scrawl,鈥� says Keynes. 鈥淵ou also often need to understand the context and his ways of working to understand what he鈥檚 writing about.鈥�
Adam Perkins, the archivist at Cambridge University Library in charge of the original papers, agrees. 鈥淭hese manuscripts will be most useful for Darwin scholars,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut others will also find plenty of interest in there.鈥�
One such document is a recipe book written in Emma鈥檚 relatively legible hand. Crammed with details of hearty deserts, such as muffin pudding, lemon blancmange, burnt cream and gingerbread, it should perhaps come with a health warning, says van Wyhe. One of the rare savoury recipes, which appears in Darwin鈥檚 own hand, gives detailed instructions on how to boil rice.
Evolution 鈥� Learn more about the struggle to survive in our comprehensive special report.
