The phenomenal importance of Darwin's brilliant studies is universally recognized. This volume covers all of the extensive variants in the six texts published between 1859 and 1872, the collation of which has made possible an application and discussion of The Origin of Species.
For the first time in this volume has a scholar attempted the gargantuan task of compiling a complete variorum edition covering all of the extensive variants in the six texts published between 1859 and 1872, the collation of which has made possible an accurate application and discussion of The Origin of Species. Darwin's changes were extensive. His book grew by a third as he rewrote many passages four or five times, and in this edition Morse Peckham has recorded every one of those changes.
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was the British naturalist who originated the theories of natural selection and evolution. Morse Peckham, Director of the University of Pennsylvania Press from 1953 to 1955, was Distinguished Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of South Carolina and author of many books, including Beyond the Tragic Vision and Explanation and Power: An Inquiry into the Control of Human Behavior.
Darwin produced six editions [of The Origin of Species] during his lifetime and, as Peckham demonstrated nearly fifty years ago, he tinkered constantly with the text, adding and amending, revising and rethinking and, above all, responding to criticism.-Times Literary Supplement