Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the various countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle... 

London, Henry Colburn, 1839, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, publisher’s cloth, rebackedreplacing original spine. 8vo, uncut, pp xiv [i.e. xii] 615 [1, blank], Addenda 609-629, two folding charts (a little foxing to charts as usual), with 16 pp inserted publisher’s advertisements dated August 1839, 8pp prospectus for other publications.

First edition, first issue, an attractive copy of the first separate issue of Darwin’s Journal, his first formal publication and a classic of natural history travel narrative. It was perhaps the most important scientific voyage ever undertaken, for it gave impetus and direction to all of Darwin’s later research. ‘The five years of the voyage were the most important event in Darwin’s intellectual life and in the history of biological science. Darwin sailed with no formal scientific training. He returned a hard-headed man of science, knowing the importance of evidence, almost convinced that species had not always been as they were since the creation but had undergone change. He also developed doubts of the value of the Scriptures as a trustworthy guide to the history of the earth and of man, with the result that he gradually became an agnostic. The experiences of his five years in the Beagle, how he dealt with them, and what they led to, built up into a process of epoch-making importance in the history of thought’ (Gavin de Beer in DSB).

The Journal of Researches was issued as part of the Voyage of the Beagle volumes and also as a separate book as above; this separate issue comprises sheets from the same print-run, but with cancel half-title and title-page. Both were published and available in June 1839.

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