Alert reader Stephen called my attention to this cool “infographic” of Darwin’s Origin of Species. As you may know, Darwin’s masterpiece went through six editions, with some of the changes being quite profound. If you want to see where and which changes were made, go to Ben Fry’s “On the origin of species: the preservation of favored traces,” and let it load (it takes some time). The changes between editions are color coded, and you can find them by zeroing in on bits with the cursor. Have a gander:
Alternatively, you can go to the Variorum site at Darwin Online, and see the changes in each page for each edition, clicking on the year to see the changes.
Finally, if you’re a dinosaur like me who prefers to hold actual paper in the hands, Morse Peckham has edited a very nice variorum book that is easy to use (I have it).
The evolution of the Origin. Cool!
b&
Wow, reasonable price for something like that!
This is really, really cool. Insane attention to detail is something Darwin himself advocated and was proud of. It’s a dying art.
I’m a computer scientist. If I can’t find a way to zoom into anything for more detail or zoom out for more context, then I’m doing it wrong.
This is an outstanding effort.
Brilliant – just exactly what I was looking for!
🙂