Darwin, Charles, Philip Parker King, and Robert FitzRoy | "The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life"

From the Library of Jay Michael Haft

Darwin, Charles, Philip Parker King, and Robert FitzRoy

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle ... London: Henry Colburn, 1839 [Vols. 1-2 and Appendix]. [And:] Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle ... London: Henry Colburn, 1839 [Vol. 3]

4 vols, 8vo (228 x 143). Half-titles, title-pages, 56 engraved plates and charts (9 folding maps loose and backed with linen, housed in a half black morocco clamshell box tooled to match the bindings), woodcut text illustrations; a few leaves trimmed, a few very small marginal tears, stray spots occasionally affecting plates, very occasional pale offsetting from plates and fingersoiling, maps with instances of very slight loss at folds of "South America from Original Documents" and chip to the right margin of "Southern Portion of South America," otherwise with moderate browning and scattered foxing. Uniformly bound in half black morocco, black cloth, top edges gilt, marbled endpapers; rebacked but with early black morocco spines preserved, rubbed at extremities, exposure to some corners.

First edition, second issue of volume 3.

Darwin's first book was originally issued as the third volume of Narrative of the Surveying Voyages, with the title "Journal and Remarks, 1832–1836." In the same year, it was also issued separately, under the title Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by H.M.S. Beagle, as is the present copy. The first volume of the set contains Captain King's account of the expedition in the Adventure and Beagle between 1826 and 1830, which surveyed the coasts of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego. The second volume and its appendix describe the second voyage of the Beagle under Captain Fitzroy between 1831 and 1836. Darwin's volume contains his own account of the Beagle's voyage—it is an outstanding account of natural history exploration which described the fieldwork which ultimately led to the Origin of Species (see lot 1022).

Darwin served as the naturalist aboard the Admiralty survey ship Beagle during her circumnavigation, which included ports in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Tierra del Fuego, Peru, the Galapagos Islands, Tahiti, New Zealand, and Australia. "The five years of the voyage were the most important event in Darwin's intellectual life and in the history of biological science. Darwin sailed with no formal scientific training. He returned a hard-headed man of science, knowing the importance of evidence, almost convinced that species had not always been as they were since the creation but had undergone change. ... The experiences of his five years in the Beagle, how he dealt with them, and what they led to, built up into a process of epoch-making importance in the history of thought" (DSB). In the "Recollections" he composed in 1876, Darwin himself stated that "The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life, and has determined my whole career" (Life and Letters 1:61).

REFERENCE:

Freeman 10; Borba de Moraes p.247; Ellis/Mengel 624; Norman 584; Sabin 3782

PROVENANCE:

William Foyle, Beeleigh Abbey (gilt morocco booklabel; not in the his sale at Christie's London, 12-13 July 2000)