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The Beagle Letters
Charles Darwin s voyage on the HMS Beagle is a gripping adventure story, and a turning point in the making of the modern world. Brought together here in chronological order, the letters he wrote and received during his trip provide a first-hand account of a voyage of discovery that was as much personal as intellectual. We follow Darwin s adventures as he prepares for his travels, lands on his first tropical island, watches an earthquake level a city, and learns how to catch ostriches from a running horse. We witness slavery, political revolution, and epidemic disease, and share the otherworldly experience of landing on the Galapagos Islands and collecting specimens. His letters are counterpoised by replies from family and friends that record a comfortable, intimate world back in England. Original watercolors by the ship s artist Conrad Martens vividly bring to life Darwin s descriptions of his travels.
- GenresScienceNonfiction
500 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2008
About the author
Janet Browne
44 books40 followersElizabeth Janet Browne (née Bell, born 30 March 1950) is a British historian of science, known especially for her work on the history of 19th century biology. She taught at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College, London, before returning to Harvard. She is currently Aramont Professor of the History of Science at Harvard University
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
November 25, 2019
Personal and intriguing insight into Darwin's mind and personality. The letters to and from friends and family show many sides of Darwins interests, concerns and discoveries. It humanises Darwin and makes you realise he was a young man in his early twenties with all the insecurities, concerns, curiosity and questions that we all have. Highly recommend!
April 5, 2026
Charles Darwin wrote much later in his life that “The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career...”
This fascinating book brings together all the available letters both to and from Darwin, from the time that the possibility of him joining the Beagle voyage first arose, right through to his arrival back in England five years later in 1836. It’s one of the most enjoyable books that I’ve read recently.
It’s also a testament to how important letters were in those days, and to the fact that so many people kept the letters they received. The letters give us a real flavour of what Darwin’s Beagle adventure was like, and show us why it was so important for him.
Just to give a few examples, we read of: Darwin as a victim of severe seasickness; Captain FitzRoy’s doomed attempt to bring “Christian civilisation” to the people of Tierra del Fuego; Darwin’s disgust at the slavery he saw in Brazil; his scientific collecting and observation; the wonderful scenery; and the deaths of “poor little Musters” and other crewmen.
But I was surprised to find that what I enjoyed most was reading those letters which reveal the emotional closeness of Darwin and his friends and family (especially his sisters), and those which give an insight into the Jane Austen-like world of Darwin’s wider family. (The letters themselves often refer to characters from Austen’s books.)
My favourite Austen-ish character is Darwin’s former “close friend” Fanny Owen. She reminds Darwin about when they acted as “Housemaid and Postillion” together (?); describes how she was the “Undertaker” (organiser) for her sister’s wedding; refers to an unsuccessful suitor (called Hope) of one of Darwin’s sisters as “Forlorn Hope”; and says that the only drawback to the dancing after her sister’s wedding was “an occasional dreadful kick, from the too well shod Fantastic toes of some of the Beaux...”
Don’t expect letters about evolution: Darwin only developed his theory of evolution by natural selection once he was back in England, though he might have started thinking seriously about “transmutation” on the last stretch of his Beagle voyage in 1836. He certainly opened his first notebook on the subject in 1837, and the idea of natural selection as the mechanism of evolutionary change came to him, after reading Malthus, in 1838.
Alfred Russel Wallace independently came up with the same idea in 1858. But Wallace himself acknowledged that: “...the idea occurred to Darwin in October 1838, nearly twenty years earlier than to myself (in February 1858); and that during the whole of that twenty years he had been laboriously collecting evidence...”
Darwin did not develop his theory while on the Beagle, but things that he saw on the voyage - in South America and in the Galapagos Islands - certainly played a part in putting the idea into his head.
This fascinating book brings together all the available letters both to and from Darwin, from the time that the possibility of him joining the Beagle voyage first arose, right through to his arrival back in England five years later in 1836. It’s one of the most enjoyable books that I’ve read recently.
It’s also a testament to how important letters were in those days, and to the fact that so many people kept the letters they received. The letters give us a real flavour of what Darwin’s Beagle adventure was like, and show us why it was so important for him.
Just to give a few examples, we read of: Darwin as a victim of severe seasickness; Captain FitzRoy’s doomed attempt to bring “Christian civilisation” to the people of Tierra del Fuego; Darwin’s disgust at the slavery he saw in Brazil; his scientific collecting and observation; the wonderful scenery; and the deaths of “poor little Musters” and other crewmen.
But I was surprised to find that what I enjoyed most was reading those letters which reveal the emotional closeness of Darwin and his friends and family (especially his sisters), and those which give an insight into the Jane Austen-like world of Darwin’s wider family. (The letters themselves often refer to characters from Austen’s books.)
My favourite Austen-ish character is Darwin’s former “close friend” Fanny Owen. She reminds Darwin about when they acted as “Housemaid and Postillion” together (?); describes how she was the “Undertaker” (organiser) for her sister’s wedding; refers to an unsuccessful suitor (called Hope) of one of Darwin’s sisters as “Forlorn Hope”; and says that the only drawback to the dancing after her sister’s wedding was “an occasional dreadful kick, from the too well shod Fantastic toes of some of the Beaux...”
Don’t expect letters about evolution: Darwin only developed his theory of evolution by natural selection once he was back in England, though he might have started thinking seriously about “transmutation” on the last stretch of his Beagle voyage in 1836. He certainly opened his first notebook on the subject in 1837, and the idea of natural selection as the mechanism of evolutionary change came to him, after reading Malthus, in 1838.
Alfred Russel Wallace independently came up with the same idea in 1858. But Wallace himself acknowledged that: “...the idea occurred to Darwin in October 1838, nearly twenty years earlier than to myself (in February 1858); and that during the whole of that twenty years he had been laboriously collecting evidence...”
Darwin did not develop his theory while on the Beagle, but things that he saw on the voyage - in South America and in the Galapagos Islands - certainly played a part in putting the idea into his head.
January 16, 2021
Fascinating.
Big spoiler : his letter to his sister from the Galapagos is lost.
Big spoiler : his letter to his sister from the Galapagos is lost.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 12, 2016
Es un magnífco libro para quienes deseen tener una visión más detallada e íntima de la vida del naturalista a bordo del Beagle. Incluye un excelente prólogo de Janet Brown. La correspondencia de Darwin, desde antes de embarcarse en el Beagle se alterna cronológicamente con la de su familia, amigos y maestros, lo que otorga un sentido de continuidad a su extenso viaje. Muy interesante.
January 21, 2009
All of Darwin's correspondence from his Beagle voyage.
October 3, 2025
eu ganhei uma versão com fotos e ilustrações, fez minha experiência geral subir muito, interessante pra krl ver os desenhos e fotos do darwin
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews