The Correspondence of Charles Darwin.

Cambridge University Press, 1985-1997; 2002. First edition. 11 vols. 8vo., pp. xxxii, 702; xxxvi, 603; xxxii, 523; xxxvi, 711; xxxii, 705; xxxii, 673; xxxviii, 671; xxxviii, 766; xxxvi, 609; xl, 936; xl, 695 + plates to all vols. Hardbacks: black cloth, green title-piece to spine, gilt-lettered, a few corners lightly bumped and Vol. 8 with a larger dent to outer board-edges, light dust-marking to edges and Vol.5 with a considerable tea-stain to top edge (only), but all volumes unread and internally clean. Dust-jackets, creasing to jacket edges with a few tiny nicks to edges, a couple of corners with closed tears, Vol. 7 with two larger but still closed tears to centre of front flap-fold, but still very good overall. The Darwin Correspondence Project was founded in 1974 by an American scholar, Frederick Burkhardt, with the help of his wife, Anne Schlabach Burkhardt. and Sydney Smith, a zoologist in the University of Cambridge (all three now deceased). Setting out with the aim of locating all letters written by Charles Darwin, they originally intended to publish only summaries. This original intention then developed with Cambridge University Press into a plan, which remains ongoing, to publish for the first time a complete edition of the entire correspondence, consisting of "full authoritative texts of Darwin's (letters)... edited according to modern textual editorial principles and practice". A total of 30 volumes are anticipated, with 28 now published. Here we have the first 10 volumes, covering the years 1821-1862, with Vol. 13, containing 1865 and supplementary material for 1822-1864.