Drawings and Stories by Charles Darwin's Children

History of Science
Biological Evolution
Environmental and Science Education
by Ed Hessler (EvoEd)


Happy Darwin Day to one and all.

You may know that Darwin tore books and manuscripts apart while he was using them. He filed sections of manuscripts and books in active folders. And then? Out!

His children made use of the backs of open pages. I've written about these before but today I'm too lazy to find them. I want you to see the drawings before day's end!

Origin of the Species [Flickr]

Most of the original ms. of the Origin is missing (only 45 pp. of the ~ 600 pp. of the original are extant) and no doubt many of the drawings and stories made by his children as well.

The AMNH has a collection of the drawings and stories made by his children. The introductory page is replete with data on existing pages which provides a glimpse of how ruthless Darwin was in reusing these pages.

The drawings are very nice and I'm really pleased we have a few to view.