I learned of this today from reading the JREF newsletter
(http://www.randi.org/). The Rust Monster is Amused.
http://darwin-online.org.uk/
Press release
19 October 2006
The largest collection of Darwin's writings ever published will appear
on the website The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online
(http://darwin-online.org.uk/) on 19 October 2006. Never before has so
much Darwin material, and so many rare and widely dispersed items,
been brought together in one place and made available free of charge.
This site currently offers more than 50,000 pages of searchable text
and 40,000 images of both publications and transcribed manuscripts.
Most of the materials are available both as fully formatted electronic
text and colour images of the originals. Darwin's works are also
available as free machine-read audio mp3 files. The project, designed
and directed by Dr John van Wyhe of Christ's College, Cambridge, is
hosted by the Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences, and
Humanities at the University of Cambridge. The launch marks the end of
the first year of the three-year's funding awarded by the Arts and
Humanities Research Council.
The website also includes the largest Darwin bibliography ever
produced, based on the work of R. B. Freeman, and the largest
catalogue of manuscripts (with over 30,000 entries) ever published.
More than 150 supplementary documents are also provided, from
secondary reference works to contemporary reviews, obituaries,
published descriptions of Darwin's Beagle specimens and important
related works for studying and understanding Darwin and his work. Each
work containing illustrations or maps is provided with an overview
page of thumbnail images allowing readers to see in seconds all the
illustrations which are scattered throughout hundreds of pages. The
thumbnails take readers directly to the larger version of the image in
its context within the original work.
Most of the materials provided are appearing online for the first time
such as the first edition of the Journal of Researches (1839) (or
Voyage of the Beagle), The descent of Man (1871), The Zoology of the
Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1838-43) and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th
editions of the Origin of species. There are also many newly
transcribed and never before published manuscripts such as Darwin's
Beagle field notebooks. One of these, the notebook in which Darwin
recorded his immediate thoughts on the Galapagos, was stolen in the
early 1980s and is still missing, but the text has been transcribed
from microfilm. The many contributors and benefactors who have kindly
helped to create this milestone in Darwin studies can be found on the
website's acknowledgements.
As vast as the collection now is, there is much still to come before
2009, the bicentenary of Darwin's birth and the 150th anniversary of
the publication of the Origin of species. Forthcoming materials
include further editions and translations, images of the majority of
the Darwin Archive at Cambridge University Library, more editorial
introductions, notes, transcriptions and technical facilities for
printing and larger images. New content is continually being added.
--
** George Orwell was an optimist **
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