To Edwin Lankester, Ray Society 30 July [1851]
Down Farnborough Kent
July 30th—
My dear Sir
The enclosed M.S. will occupy as nearly as I can calculate 330 pages of size of that used by Dr. Baird: there will be preface, index & description of Plates.—1
I have enclosed instructions which you can read to Mess. Adlard on all points, except size of type.— My M.S. looks atrociously bad, but the Printers make it out better than you could believe possible: I offered to the Pal. Soc. (& do to you) to pay for corrections, if heavier than the average high corrections; I had not, however, to pay anything.—
I most urgently desire, & trusting I may be permitted, have so instructed Mss. Adlard, to print 3 of the woodcuts, explanatory of the nomenclature used, on a separate folding Page, so as to be easily accessible to the Reader.—2
I think I told you that I have failed (after repeated attempts, in getting any of the Plates coloured, which required fresh specimens: but I have, (partly in consequence) had 10 instead of 8 Plates engraved: if this costs the Socy. more than the estimated colouring of the Plates, I am bound & will pay as much as the Council may direct; but I do not wish to pay more than such excess, if the Council are pleased to admit of this arrangement, as the preparatory drawings have cost me £10.— Will you be so kind as to lay this part of my letter before the Council.
I should be grateful if you would urge Mss. Adlard to print the M.S. as quickly as possible; as I shall do nothing till the volume is printed off.
I will send my servant in about 8 or 9 days to you, to take the M.S to Mss Adlard: but I will send a line to say on which day he will call.— My address in London till the 9th or 10th, is “7. Park St Grosvenor Sqr.”—3
Dear Sir | With thanks | Yours very faithfuly | C. Darwin Dr Lankester.
P.S. | I hope the Council will be enabled to arrange to print the second vol. of my Cirripedia at the end of the ensuing year, by which time the M.S. will be ready.—4 Probably they will be able to judge better, after the present vol. is published, how many Plates, they can afford me.
I do hope the present volume will be worthy of the Ray. Socy.
P.S. I presume you received my subscription5 by Post office order for current year, but forgot to acknowledge it, in your obliging note received yesterday.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Baird, William. 1850. The natural history of the British Entomostraca. London.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Living Cirripedia (1851): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Lepadidæ; or, pedunculated cirripedes. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1851.
Living Cirripedia (1854): A monograph of the sub-class Cirripedia, with figures of all the species. The Balanidæ (or sessile cirripedes); the Verrucidæ, etc. By Charles Darwin. London: Ray Society. 1854.
Summary
Sends completed MS [vol. 1 of Living Cirripedia] with instructions for the printers; reviews number of plates and woodcuts, and offers to pay for extras and for excess corrections, if they occur. Hopes the Council [of the Ray Society] will print his second volume at the end of the ensuing year.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1447
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Edwin Lankester; Ray Society
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- American Philosophical Society (Mss.B.D25.)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1447,” accessed on 30 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1447.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5