Correspondence of Charles Darwin

The letters, over 15,000 in all, provide many insights on issues ranging from the origins of key scientific concepts, to religious and philosophical discussions which have continued to the present day.

In his early years, most of the letters Darwin filed away were directly relevant to one of his ongoing scientific projects in geology, invertebrate zoology, and other fields.

After publication of the Origin of Species in 1859, Darwin's children convinced him to save a far greater proportion of his correspondence, so that the sequence from the early 1860s onwards is remarkably full.

New letters are constantly being discovered and photocopies of new finds should be sent to the Manuscripts Department of Cambridge University Library, which can help identify correspondents and provide accurate dating.

Prior to its completion in December 2022, the Darwin Correspondence was among the most substantial editing projects in the English-speaking world, with a full- and part-time staff of eleven.