There are 153 letters in this collection, many addressed to Aubrey Lackington Moore, an English writer who tried to reconcile evolution and traditional Christianity. Some letters discuss scientific questions of the day, while others are formal social notes. Also includes 24 clipped signatures, inlcuding those of Sir Henry Wentworth Acland; Goerge Bentham; H. A. Bruce; S. H. Butcher; Matthewss Duncan; Percy Gardner; George Gritchett; G. Grote; Alfred Cort Haddon; Sir Prescott Gardner Hewitt; William Guyer Hunter; Thomas Henry Huxley; John Lingard; Thomas Babington Macauley; Miss K. Aubrey Moore; Louis Pasteur; Sir John Russell Reynolds, bart.; Thomas Smith; James Leigh Strachan-Davidson; Agnes Strickland; and Arthur Thomason.

There is correspondence concerning geology, botany, natural history, natural selection, evolution, British science and scientists, and other scientific topics. Most of the letters are written by Lyell, with a very few items by others.