A new website has been launched which provides most of the writings of
Charles Darwin in citable form. Most are also fully illustrated with
hundreds of images never before offered on the internet.
Despite an impressive proliferation of Darwin texts on the internet-
almost all exclude essential bibliographical information such as
edition, publisher, place of publication, etc. Page numbers are nowhere
to be seen. These factors vastly reduce the usefulness of these texts as
they cannot be easily cited. It is impossible to know if one is reading
a first or sixth edition. An example
are the many online 'first editions' of Darwin's Origin of Species.
Often
these cannot be correct as the text of the book contains the phrase
'survival of the fittest'- famously coined by Herbert Spencer and first
included in the 5th edition of 1869. Many other online copies of the
Origin purport to be the first edition yet contain the Historical
Sketch,
 first found in English in the 3rd edition of 1861.  Other historical
 texts on the internet contain many silent
additions or omissions- footnotes are changed to endnotes or formatting
altered without informing readers where this has been done. If scholars
are to find digital texts more useful, it must be perfectly clear which
historical text is represented and they must be citable in conventional
ways. The texts provided at this site are an attempt to do so for the
writings of Darwin. The site also contains several texts digitized for
the first time.
This site will be a treasure to Darwin scholars, scientists, and
historians around the world. Here most of Darwin's vastly influential
writings can be searched conveniently together, or by individual work,
24 hours a day 7 days a week.
http://pages.britishlibrary.net/charles.darwin/

The texts provided on the site presently include:
-'Observations on the Parallel Roads of Glen Roy, and of other parts of
Lochaber in Scotland, with an attempt to prove that they are of marine
origin', Philosophical Transactions, 1839, pp. 39-81.

-The foundations of the Origin of Species: Two essays written in 1842
and 1844 by Charles Darwin. Francis Darwin ed., Cambridge, 1909.

-Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the
countries visited during the voyage round the world of H.M.S. Beagle,
London, 11th edn 1913.

-Geological observations on Coral Reefs, Volcanic Islands, and on South
America: being the Geology of the Voyage of the Beagle, under the
Command of Capt. FitzRoy, during the Years 1832-36. London, Melbourne &
Toronto, Ward Lock & Co., 1910.

-'On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation
of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection', Journal of the
Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Zoology, 20 Aug. 1858, 3, pp. 45-62.

-On the origin of species by means of natural selection. London, 1859.
[1st edn].

-On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are
fertilised. London, John Murray, 1862.

-The variation of animals and plants under domestication. 2 vols. 2nd
edn. New York, D. Appleton & Co. 1883.

-The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. 2nd edn. revised
and augmented, London, John Murray, 1882.

-The origin of species by means of natural selection. London, 6th edn.
1872.

-The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2nd edn London, John
Murray, 1875.

-The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom.
New York, D. Appleton & Co., 1892.

-'A biographical sketch of an infant', Mind, July 1877, pp. 285-294.

-The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. New York,
D. Appleton & Co., 1896.

-The formation of vegetable mould, through the action of worms. Eigth
thousand (corrected) London, John Murray, 1883.

Correspondence:

-The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. 2 vols. Francis Darwin ed. New
York, D. Appleton & Co., 1905.

-More letters of Charles Darwin. 2 vols., Francis Darwin & A.C. Seward,
eds., London, John Murray, 1903.


--
Dr John van Wyhe

Affiliate Research Scholar
Dept. of History & Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University
Free School Lane, Cambridge CB2 3RH, UK