Specially created as a set of 7, separate from his run of Scientific notebooks, and labelled MS [Manuscript], these notebooks span a critical time in Lyell's life, beginning November 1855. He hears of Darwin's views on the origin of species five months later, during a visit to Down. When he closed the series in 1861, he began to write Antiquity of Man.

Content warning: Lyell uses these MS [Manuscript] Notebooks to consider reading and his theories on progressive development, evolution and race. The language used in these notebooks is historical, can be discriminatory and may cause offence.