Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle - photo 1
Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle - photo 2

Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle

Lot 193
28.01.2025 00:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1360910
Lot 193 | Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle
Estimate value
$ 25 000 – 35 000
DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882) and FITZROY, Robert (1805-1865, editor), and KING, Philip Parker (1793-1856). Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. London: Henry Colburn, 1839.

First edition of Darwin's first published book, contained in volume 3. The Kenneth E. Hill copy. The young Darwin seems to have been genuinely surprised by FitzRoy's invitation to publish his journal as part of the official narrative of the Beagle's five-year circumnavigation. "Of course I have said I am perfectly willing," Darwin wrote to his sister Caroline on the homeward journey, "he [FitzRoy] has read over the part I have on board and likes it. I shall be anxious to hear your opinions, for it is a most dangerous task, in these days, to publish accounts of parts of the world, which have so frequently been visited" (DCP 301). However, his presence as captain's companion and gentleman scientist, and the chances he took to explore the hinterland of South America on horseback, had ensured it was a surveying voyage like no other. While his studies concentrated initially on geology, applying the theories proposed in Lyell's Principles of Geology (vol. I of which was given him by FitzRoy), the experience also aroused a desire to understand and explain the distribution and development of the species he encountered, leading to the opening of his first notebook on "Transmutation of Species" in 1837. Overall the great open-mindedness and pointed curiosity of the Journal make it the most interesting and readable scientific autobiography yet published. Freeman, Darwin 10, 12. Norman 584.

Four volumes, including Appendix to volume 2, octavo (234 x 140mm). 48 plates in total, including two frontispieces and one folding; all 8 maps present, with 6 loose in pockets and 2 bound in (plates with some foxing and toning; frontis of vol. 1 detached; maps with small losses or tears along folds in one or two places). 16 pp. ads dated August 1839 at rear of Vol. 3 (vol. 3 with pp. [i-iv] cancelled, pp. [v-vi] discarded, and charts inserted at p. xiv and p. 538, all as described in Freeman 12). Publisher's original cloth (wear along joints and spine ends, corners curling a little, fading to spines, vol. 1 with front hinge cracked and map pocket splitting along top edge, vol. 3 rebacked with portions of original spine laid down). Provenance: Robert Jamen Shuttleworth Esq, botanist and conchologist, 1810-1874 (armorial bookplate to front pastedown and ownership inscription in vol. 3) – St Charles Library, Bayswater (bookplate, "Ex Oblatorum s Caroli Bibliotheca Bayswater," in vol.3) – Kenneth E. Hill (bookplate).
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