The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin. 3 vols. set. 2009. (Cambridge Library Collection, Life Sciences). 1245 p. gr8vo. Paper bd.

This three volume life of Charles Darwin, published five years after his death, was edited by his son Francis, who was his fathers collaborator in experiments in botany and who after his death took on the responsibility of overseeing the publication of his remaining manuscript works and letters. In the preface to the first volume, the author explains his editorial principles: In choosing letters for publication I have been largely guided by the wish to illustrate my fathers personal character. But his life was so essentially one of work, that a history of the man could not be written without following closely the career of the author. Among the family history, anecdotes and reminiscences of scientific colleagues is a short autobiographical essay which Charles Darwin wrote for his children and grandchildren, rather than for publication.