The red notebook of Charles Darwin / edited, with an introduction and notes by Sandra Herbert.

  • Darwin, Charles, 1809-1882.
Date:
1980
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

Credit: The red notebook of Charles Darwin / edited, with an introduction and notes by Sandra Herbert. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/184 (page 18)
    18 SANDRA HERBERT indicated anything concerning placement of entries on the page ; fourth, I have recorded the medium in which entries were written only in certain instances. In particular, up to page 113, where the original text is in pencil, I have noted those entries which are written in ink. After page 113, where the text contains both penned and pencilled entries, I have noted only those entries written in a distinctive Hght brown ink, which, like the penned entries in the first part of the notebook, were clearly added some time after the main text was complete. Fifth, and finally, only Darwin's text has been reproduced. The notations in other handwriting which appear in the notebook, namely the catalogue number of the notebook and some faint remains of what may have originally been a price mark, are not included in the transcription. I have retained the other complexities of the text. Cancellations are kept where they are legible and are indicated by being enclosed in angled brackets. Those few cancellations which are omitted as illegible are mainly single letters whose identity is obscured by the cancellation mark. Darwin's alterations to the text, which include careted remarks, interlineations, and later additions, are enclosed in slanted brackets. I have not assigned dates to these alterations. Some were roughly contemporary with the original text; others, such as those in light brown ink, were made considerably later. Without surveying all of Darwin's writings from the post-Бей^/е period, it would be speculative to assign even approximate dates to all of the additions. In spelling I have reproduced Darwin's words exactly as written where the individual letters are clearly formed. Where individual letters are indistinct, as is often the case, I have offered the probable reading of the word without comment. 'Rememb[?]g' on page 72 thus appears simply as 'remembering'. Where the reading is conjectural I have placed it within square brackets and indicated my uncertainty by a question mark. In orthography I have preserved all of Darwin's forms, except for the long 's', which I have modernized silently. In capitalization I have reproduced Darwin's usage where it is clear. Where it is unclear I have followed modern con¬ ventions. Representation of punctuation is a more serious problem, partly because nineteenth-century practice differed considerably from our own. As R. C. Stauffer has pointed out, Darwin followed a system similar to that suggested in Lindley Murray's English Grammar}'^ In that system commas, semicolons, colons, and periods indicate increasingly longer pauses more than they distinguish different constructions. Thus, Darwin might use a colon where a semicolon would now be employed. I have not altered his practice in this regard, which the reader should bear in mind. The representation of punctuation is also problematical since punctuation marks are by nature small and easily confused with stray marks on the page, or with pen rests. Rather than probe Darwin's intentions in this regard, I have reproduced all traditional marks of punctuation which appear within the text. Equally, I have not added punctuation where there is none. It is left to the reader, understanding the nature of the document, to tolerate inconsistencies in punctuation. As for references I have provided footnotes on all persons named in the text. Further information on the majority of these persons can be obtained from standard