Beagle on a two-year voyage to survey South America, which eventually lasted five years and circumnavigated the globe. During the voyage, Darwin corresponded by letter with Henslow after reaching South America, and collected specimens with him in mind, particularly plants. Extracts from ten of Darwin's letters from South America to Henslow were first read out at a meeting of the Cambridge Philosophical Society on 16 November 1835, around the time that the ship reached Tahiti. Two days later, Adam Sedgwick read geological notes based on the letters to the Geological Society of London. The Council of the Cambridge Philosophical Society had the extracts printed in a pamphlet dated 1 December 1835, for private distribution among the Members of the Society,. The pamphlet has been described as the first writing of Charles Darwin ever to be published, but earlier, while still at Cambridge University, he had his notes on insects published in a book by James Francis Stephens. The readings were held and the pamphlet Extracts from Letters to Henslow was printed without Darwin's knowledge. Upon learning of this pamphlet, Darwin was "a good deal horrified" at Henslow making public "what had been written without care or accuracy". The publicity helped Darwin's career, and at the end of his life acknowledged their friendship as the most important "circumstance" of his life. The original pamphlet is now rare. According to American Book Prices Current only four copies have appeared at auction since 1975. On 19 June 2014 Christies auctioned an original copy in New York (Sale 2861) and realised $221,000. In 1960 it was reprinted privately to mark the 100th anniversary of the publication of the "Origin of Species" on 26 November 1859 and issued to Members and Associates of the Society. References Further reading Susannah Gibson (2019). The Spirit of Inquiry: How One Extraordinary Society Shaped Modern Science. Oxford University Press. External links Cambridge Philosophical Society University of Cambridge Discovery: 200 Years of the Cambridge Philosophical Society 1819 establishments in England Philosophical Scientific societies based in the United Kingdom Philosophical societies in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1819