Darwin spent eight years studying this group of animals. Do you know what this is?

Did you know what last week’s object of the week was?

Manuscript page on loan from College Library

Well done if you recognised the object last week was our original manuscript sheet from Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species. It is one of 42 surviving sheets that make up the only handwritten original copy of the manuscript that was Darwin’s most influential work.

Our sheet was given by Darwin to Ann Thankeray Ritchie, the daughter of the novelist William Makepeace Thackeray. We know she visited Darwin in 1882 just seven days before he died.

Don’t worry if you can’t read Darwin’s handwriting because we have a translation next to it. But you’ll have to visit the museum to see it!