Jeannie and Vero Wynne-Edwards Collection

The Jeannie and Vero Wynne-Edwards Book Collection, donated in 1997 by Dr. Hugh Wynne-Edwards and Dr. Janet Sorbie and their families, consists of over 1800 books, pamphlets, periodical and ephemeral pieces in the field of natural history. It was the working library of Vero C. Wynne-Edwards (1906-1997) C.B.E, F.R.S., Regis Professor of Natural History, University of Aberdeen, 1946-1974.

Vero Wynne-Edwards was a British ethnologist and naturalist, whose writings on group selection in evolution became the focus of debate among theorists in the 1960s and 1970s. Professor Wynne-Edwards championed the theory that natural selection acts on both individuals in social groups and on each group as a whole in relation to its environment. This theory pitted behavioural ecologists against proponents of the Darwinian theory of evolution. Items in this collection are listed in the library catalogue. An extensive collection of Dr. Wynne-Edwards' paper, including several of his detailed field books, are held in Queen's Archives.