Volume 1

The life and letters of Charles Darwin : including an autobiographical chapter / edited by his son, Francis Darwin.

  • Charles Darwin
Date:
1888
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The life and letters of Charles Darwin : including an autobiographical chapter / edited by his son, Francis Darwin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by King’s College London. The original may be consulted at King’s College London. Volume 3 is not available online.

    44/424 page 26
    CHAPTER 11. AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [My father's autobiographical recollections, given in the- present chapter, were written for his children,—and written without any thought that they would ever be published. To many this may seem an impossibility; but those who knew my father will understand how it was not only possible, but- natural. The autobiography bears the heading, 'Recollections- of the Development of my Mind and Character,' and end with the following note:—Aug. 3, 1876. This sketch of my life was begun about May 28th at Hopedene,* and since then I have written for nearly an hour on most afternoons. It will easily be understood that, in a narrative of a personal, and intimate kind written for his wife and children, passages should occur which must here be omitted ; and I have not thought it necessary to indicate where such omissions are m.ade. It has been found necessary to make a few corrections, of obvious verbal slips, but the number of such alterations, has been kept down to the minimum.—F. D.] A German Editor having written to me for an^ account of the development of my mind and character with some sketch of my autobiography, I have thought that the attempt would amuse me, and might possibly interest my children or their children. I know that it would have interested me greatly to have read even * Mr. Hensleigh Wedgwood's house in Surrey.
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