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To R. F. Cooke   11 December [1877]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Dec. 11th

My dear Sir

I will send today the corrected sheets of Cross Fert: to Messrs Clowes. I think the pages up to 370 need not be broken, but the last 100 pages will have to be repaged & the index a little altered.2

By my Memoranda 2000 copies have been printed, but I do not know whether it is worth while to put “Third Thousandth” on title page.3 Do you think it is?? By the way, & in order that my error may be corrected if I am wrong, I have not been paid for the last 500 printed in July; I was paid in March 140£ for the 1500 first sold.— But pray tell Mr. Murray that I am not in the least hurry about payment.4

How many copies shall you have printed of new Edit. of Cross-Fertilisation? Please tell me, when you have decided.5

I must have a copy.

Please send me soon sheets of “Different Forms of Flowers” that I may keep ready for whenever I must correct for new Edit. I was quite right to delay, for since you proposed to stereotype I have had 3 or 4 important communications on the subject.6

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from R. F. Cooke, 13 December 1877.
2
William Clowes & Sons were printers to John Murray, CD’s publisher. The first edition of Cross and self fertilisation was published on 10 November 1876 (Freeman 1977). A long footnote at the bottom of page 370 of Cross and self fertilisation 2d ed. necessitated the resetting of the rest of the book (see letter from A. W. Rimpau, 10 December 1877 and n. 1).
3
Only ‘Second Edition’ appears on the title page of Cross and self fertilisation 2d ed.
5
No copies of Cross and self fertilisation 2d ed. were printed until some time after February 1878 (see Correspondence vol. 26, letter from R. F. Cooke, 26 February 1878).
6
In Forms of flowers 2d ed., pp. v–xii, CD added a preface in which he noted all the new information he had received since the publication of the first edition.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Cross and self fertilisation 2d ed.: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1878.

Cross and self fertilisation: The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1876.

Forms of flowers 2d ed.: The different forms of flowers on plants of the same species. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1880.

Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.

Summary

Sends corrected sheets of Cross and self-fertilisation. How many copies will be printed? Asks whether he is correct in thinking that he has not been paid for the July printing.

Plans to correct Forms of flowers when new edition is needed.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11276
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray
Sent from
Down
Source of text
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 297–8)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11276,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11276.xml

letter

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