Introduction to the Complete Library of Charles Darwin by John van Wyhe
— Read on darwin-online.org.uk/EditorialIntroductions/vanWyhe_The_Complete_Library_of_Charles_Darwin.html
Charles Darwin’s birthday (12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) today! I know this because I have just listened to Sarah Darwin – a couple of greats of a grand up the ‘tree of life’ – inform me of such just now on Today. On this day then, the much lauded, often misunderstood – and sometimes maligned – ‘father of evolution’ has gifted to his extended and forever growing family, and contrary to birthday conventions, the books from his library – that inner sanctum of a every learned Victorian – at Down House, the Darwin family home in Berkshire.