NUS science historian tracks evolution of Darwin's library

The vast, diverse collections rebuilt virtually include tomes, quirky items

- Shabana Begum

An infamous book called Das Kapital by German philosopher Karl Marx and conspiracy theories linked to the lost city of Atlantis were among 13,000 tomes and publications that the father of evolution Charles Darwin kept in his personal library.

He did not just fixate on science and biology, but also had interests in farming, artwork and caricatures of himself.

These facts about the renowned British naturalist, who was born in 1809 and died in 1882, were unveiled by a National University of Singapore (NUS) science historian, who over 18 years painstakingly tracked down Darwin's collections and rebuilt them virtually.

By mid-February, Dr John van Wyhe from the Department of Biological Sciences had what he believes to be the largest Darwin resource in the world, and probably the most comprehensive website on any historical person. The portal is called Darwin Online.

Scholars had long believed that Darwin's library comprised about 1,480 books that were preserved at the University of Cambridge and his home, Down House, in England. But this turned out to be only 15 per cent of his library, said Dr van Wyhe.