Introduction to Darwin Online

Darwin Online is the largest and most widely consulted edition of the writings of Charles Darwin ever published. It is probably the most extensive scholarly website devoted to any historical figure.

This website contains over 219,000 pages of searchable text and 226,000 electronic images, at least one exemplar of all known Darwin publications, reproduced to the highest scholarly standards, both as searchable text and electronic images of the originals. The majority of these have been edited and annotated here for the first time with more than 4,900 original editorial notes. The pages of documents available only as PDFs have not been counted but they amount to tens of thousands of additional pages of works by Darwin and others.

This website also provides the largest collection of Darwin's private papers and manuscripts ever published: c. 20,000 items across c. 100,000 images, thanks primarily to the kind permission of Cambridge University Library. These numbers break down roughly as follows:

125,000 images of publications

100,300 images of manuscripts

20,600 pages of transcribed Darwin manuscripts (9,500 of these were previously published)

59,600 pages of transcribed Darwin publications

76,400 total pages by Darwin (includes different editions and translations of the same works) These totals do not count the hundreds of Darwin translations provided only as PDFs.

150,600 pages by other authors (including the Beagle Library)

The pilot website by John van Wyhe, The writings of Charles Darwin on the web (2002-6), was replaced on 19 October 2006 with the launch of this website. The launch became an international media sensation—reported on television, radio, newspapers, magazines and throughout theinternet, reaching an estimated 400 million people. The site was swamped with millions of hits in the first 48 hours, bringing the server at the University of Cambridge down for a short time. Since then the site has been accessed by tens of millions of readers and from every country in the world. Read about the launch of the site here.

All of Darwin's unpublished manuscripts are being scanned, transcribed or both, if reproduction permission can be obtained. All previously published manuscript transcriptions are included (except where reproduction permission could not be obtained). Overall the site provides the world's largest collection of material on and by Darwin- almost all of it online only here.

Some of the distinguishing features and innovations on Darwin Online include:

Many individuals and institutions have helpfully contributed to make Darwin Online possible; for a complete list of contributors see Credits and Acknowledgments.

Darwin's unpublished letters are the focus of the Correspondence of Charles Darwin project (1985-).

A virtual bookshelf of Darwin's books. Click on a book to open it.





John van Wyhe