Lot 36: CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN (1809-1882, EDITOR)

The Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle, under the Command of Captain Robert FitzRoy, R.N., during the Years 1832 to 1836. London: Smith, Elder, February 1838-October 1843. A FULL SET OF 19 ORIGINAL NUMBERS, 4° (320 x 245mm), forming 5 parts:

Part I. OWEN, Richard (1804-1892). Fossil Mammalia. 1838-1840. Nos. 1-4. 32 lithographed plates by G. Scharf, 2 folding, one double-page. No. 2 with inserted slip for Darwin's projected geological works, present 'in some copies' (Freeman). No. 1 with advertisement leaf for Illustrations of the Zoology of South Africa by Andrew Smith at end, and no. 3 with 4 octavo advertisement leaves at end for works by Smith, Elder (neither called for by Freeman). (Some spotting of plates.) No. 1 with preface (to the whole work) and geological introduction by Darwin.

Part II. WATERHOUSE, George Robert (1810-1888). Mammalia [half-title adds: with a notice of their habits and ranges by Charles Darwin]. 1838-1839. Nos. 1-4. 32 hand-coloured lithographic plates, most numbered; 3 unnumbered engraved plates. (A little spotting of plates, one engraved plate browned and frayed at margin, no. 2 without publisher's advertisements at front.) As well as the notice of habits and ranges, Darwin provided the geographical introduction in no. 1.

Part III. GOULD, John (1804-1881). Birds [half-title adds: with a notice of their habitats and ranges by Charles Darwin and with an anatomical appendix by T.C. Eyton]. 1838-1841. Nos. 1-5. 50 unsigned hand-coloured lithographic plates by Elizabeth Gould after John Gould. No. 3 with 2 octavo advertisement leaves at front for Smith, Elder publications (not called for by Freeman). (Plate 12 of no. 2 with numeral slightly cropped.)

Part IV. JENYNS, Leonard (1800-1893). Fish. 1840-1842. Nos. 1-4. 29 lithograhic plates by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. No. 4 includes an index leaf not called for by Freeman. (No. 3 lacking pp. 89-96, plates 25-27 slightly soiled and creased at corner.)

Part V. BELL, Thomas (1792-1880). Reptiles. 1842-43. Nos. 1-2. 20 lithographic plates by Hawkins. No. 2 with half-title not called for by Freeman. (But without the 'definitive title leaf for the whole work', one preliminary in no. 2 with marginal tear.)

The 19 numbers UNCUT AND LARGELY UNOPENED IN ORIGINAL WRAPPERS of buff printed card, backed in plain green or brown cloth (wrapper of final no. slightly soiled), each of the five parts preserved in a uniform beige buckram box. Provenance: Birds no. 1 a presentation copy to Robert Jameson (1774-1854, front wrapper inscribed 'Professor Jamiesons [sic] Philosop[h]ical Journal with the Editor's Compliments' in a clerical hand; no. 2 inscribed in [?]Jameson's hand: 'Through Longman & Comp. Read January 23rd 1839' (no. 2 was issued in January 1839) -- front wrappers of nos. 1-2 of Birds with contemporary inscription 'Birds by Gould' in a differing hand, no. 2 of Fossil Mammalia likewise inscribed 'Owen Part' on front wrapper, and no. 1 of Fishes similarly inscribed 'Fishes N1 --'; no. 3 of Mammalia inscribed 'No. 6' (though 5 in the overall series) -- Quentin Keynes (1921-2003, gift to his doctor).

AN UNOPENED COPY IN ORIGINAL PARTS, THE COLOURED PLATES IN EXCEPTIONALLY BRIGHT STATE, INCLUDING A PRESENTATION COPY OF BIRDS NO. 1 TO ROBERT JAMESON. The 166 plates, 82 beautifully hand-coloured, form a fascinating record of the tireless energy and flair which the relatively untrained Darwin put into the collection of specimens intended to interest the zoological specialists. The cost of the plates was covered by a treasury grant of one thousand pounds, but to complete the work for Smith and Elder, who were publishers of large illustrated books and government publications, Darwin had to be no less steadily busy with his pen as with his gun and geological hammer, turning himself into a zoological specialist during the course of five years spent editing the work of others. 'He superintended the Zoology's text, wrote introductions for the different parts, and added notes from his various Beagle records about animal behaviour and habitats wherever appropriate, while also supervising the printers, proofreading the sheets, arranging artists for the plates, chivying the experts, and keeping them all moving forward within a tight self-imposed budget' (Janet Browne, Charles Darwin: Voyaging, 2003, p. 370).

Robert Jameson succeeded to the Edinburgh chair of natural history in 1804, holding the position until his death half a century later. As a conservative, he was not a natural ally of Darwin's; he refused to unpack James Hutton's rock collection when it arrived at the natural history museum in Edinburgh since it ran counter to his Wernerian bias and opposed the three volumes of Lyell's Principles of Geology (1830-33). Darwin visited Edinburgh in 1838, and his Autobiography (p. 53) contains an unflattering recollection of Jameson's field lecture on the Salisbury Crags. However, Jameson was co-founder of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal with David Brewster in 1824, and this was highly regarded. After 1824, he continued it alone as the Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, 'a distinguished publication remarkably open to important new ideas, even when they contradicted Jameson's own positions' (Dennis Dean in ODNB). No correspondence is recorded between Darwin and Jameson during the writing and publication of Zoology. Anker 173; Freeman 8; Nissen IVB 384 and ZBI 1391; Norman 586 (issue in volumes); Wood p. 310; Zimmer p. 157.

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