The Works of Charles Darwin : An Annotated Bibliographical Handlist

Wm Dawson & Sons, Folkestone, second edition (revised and enlarged), 1977. Cloth, 8vo,. 235 pp. 1805 entries. From a contemporary review by H. A. Feisenberger in the Times Literary Supplement "The excellent introductions to the list of each work have been greatly extended. They not only describe the publishing history of each book, but also give some idea of its importance in the history of science. So this book is not only of value to the bibliographer, but to anybody concerned with the study of Darwin's works." Part 1: books and pamphlets; Part 2: publications in serials. Part 1 contains all editions and issues of books, pamphlets and circulars, both British and foreign, noted by the author from 1835 to 1975, and includes a review of the publication history for each title. Part 2 lists all papers, notes and letters originally published in serials. Some of the complexities of Darwin bibliography are touched on in the following comment from "Species of Origin", a note on the Darwin Collection at Toronto : "From the time he returned from the Beagle voyage until his death in 1882 Darwin laboured steadily. His total production was twenty books and three pamphlets. He also contributed to eight books and one pamphlet. Since his death, the total number of his works has been augmented with the publication of his letters, notebooks, diaries and manuscripts left unfinished by him. A number of his papers were published by the scientific periodicals of his time and about ninety communications to learned societies were received from him. Almost every one of Darwin's books appeared in more than one edition and almost every edition had textual revisions of great importance. Many of the editions were further subdivided into 'issues' or, as his principal English publisher, John Murray, called them 'thousands', and there were often small changes made between the thousands. A little rubbed,otherwise Good.