Darwin, Charles | A fine set of the three volumes of Geology of the Beagle, London 1842–1846

Darwin, Charles

The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs. Being the First Part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. Fitroy, R.N., during the years 1832 to 1836. London: Smith Elder and Co., 1842. Half-title, 3 folding engraved maps by J. & C. Walker (2 partly handcolored), numerous illustrations in text, terminal ad leaf for Parts III and III of “Geological Observations,” 16-page publisher’s catalogue at end dated May 1842. — Geological Observations on the Volcanic Islands, Visited during the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle, together with some brief Notices on the Geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. Being the Second Part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle … during the years 1832 to 1836. London: Smith Elder and Co., 1844. Folding frontispiece map, a few illustrations in text, initial ad leaf for “Part the First of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle … Coral Reefs.” — Geological Observations on South America. Being the Third Part of the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle … during the years 1832 to 1836. London: Smith Elder and Co., 1846. Engraved folding map, 5 folding plates, a few illustrations in text, last page printed with an ad for all three parts of “The Geology,” as well as for “The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle.”

Together, 3 volumes, 8vo (each ca. 223 x 142 mm; South America largely unopened). A very little scattered browning or foxing. Various publisher’s blind-paneled green or blue-green cloth, yellow-coated endpapers, plain edges, Coral Reefs with ticket of Westleys & Clark, London; first two parts a bit rubbed and with minor splitting at joints and hinges, third very bright and fresh.

A fine set, especially Part III, of the three volumes of the Geology of the Beagle. “The three parts of Darwin's geological results of the Beagle voyage were separately published over a period of five years, but they were intended, and described on the title pages, as parts of one work. They were all published by Smith Elder, with the approval of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, some of the £1,000 given for the publication of the results of the voyage going towards the cost of at least the first part” (Freeman). Norman concurred that the volumes form a single work, although they were not so offered in the auction of his library.

The first volume is the only geological text truly necessitated by the Beagle's remit. Francis Beaufort, hydrographer of the Royal Navy, instructed Captain Fitzroy to have minute inspections made of coral reefs, and an article about the impending voyage in the December 1831 Athenaeum claimed that the proposed study of reefs was "the most interesting part of the Beagle's survey", affording "many points for investigation of a scientific nature beyond the mere occupation of the surveyor" (quoted in Herbert, p. 168).

“The first volume contains Darwin's theory of the formation of coral reefs, his most important geological work” (Norman). Darwin's subsidence theory of the structure and distribution of coral reefs remains the most lasting of his many contributions to geology. While he received the highest honor of the Geological Society, the Wollaston medal, in 1859 for his considerable corpus of geological studies, his recent geological biographer has noted that "Coral Reefs held a special place in Darwin's estimation, and, alone of the three parts of his geological trilogy from the voyage, he rewrote it substantially when it appeared as a second edition in 1874" (Herbert, p. 356).

“The Norman copy of the third volume is probably a prior issue: Freeman describes only copies in blue or purple cloth, with the folding lithographed plate hand-colored. The Norman copy's uncolored plate, coupled with its variant green binding, strongly suggest a prior issue, especially since the so-called ‘remainder edition’ of 1851, which published the first edition sheets of all three works in one binding, also has the colored plate. The Charles Kingsley copy also has the green cloth binding and uncolored lithograph. The third volume of this series, on the geology of South America, is inexplicably rarer than the first two” (Norman). For this reason, full sets of the three parts are seldom available.

REFERENCES

Freeman 271, 272, 273; Norman 587; Ferguson 3387 (First Part); Palau 68542 (Third Part); Sabin 18646 (Third Part); cf. Herbert, Charles Darwin, Geologist (Cornell University Press, 2005)

PROVENANCE

The set: Haskell F. Norman (bookplates; Christie’s New York, 29 October 1998, lots 1012, 1013, 1014). Part I: Mechanics Institute, Wexford (inkstamps and shelf label on spine) — Fras. le Homte (signature on front pastedown). Part II: J. W. Van Dieren (bookplate)