The London Quarterly Review, 1839 Volume LXIV (containing a 1st edition review of Charles Darwin's 'Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by the H.M.S. Beagle' or 'The Voyage of the Beagle')

This is a rare volume of the publication "The London Quarterly Review" containing an early review of the 1st edition publication of CHARLES DARWIN'S "The Voyage of the Beagle." The volume contains four separate issues: June, October, and December, 1839 and March, 1840. Each issue has its own Contents page. (Curiously, the volume opens with the Contents page for the October, 1837 issue...no contents from this issue are actually present, only the singular Contents page.) There is an Index for the June and October,1839 issues at the front, and a separate Index for the December, 1839 and March, 1840 issues at the center. Volume LXIV. American edition published by Jemima M. Mason in New York. "The London Quarterly Review" was the American edition of the UK version, called the "Quarterly Review."

The highlight of this volume is the December, 1839 issue which contains a rare, early (possibly the first), lengthy 21-page review of the books "Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries Visited by the H.M.S. Beagle" by CHARLES DARWIN, and "Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H.M.S. Adventure and Beagle" by Captain Philip Parker King and Captain Robert Fitzroy. This review of Darwin's book (more commonly known as "The Voyage of the Beagle") was published the same year as the true first edition (London) and precedes the first American edition (1846) by seven years. The reviewer describes Darwin's book as "One of the most interesting narratives of voyaging that it has fallen to our lot to take up, and one which must always occupy a distinguished place in the history of scientific navigation."