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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Agnes Haeckel1   [before 3 March 1873]2

‘An Dich sind drei Briefe eingelaufen, oder vielmehr nur zwei, der dritte ist an mich gerichtet von—Darwin!! Ein sehr netter Brief, er schreibt ungefähr: ‘Ich bekam vor zwei Tagen einen sehr freundlichen Brief und eine interessante Adresse in Französisch von Prof. Haeckel. Meine Frau, welche mir immer deutschen Briefe übersetzt, war krank, so daß ich den Brief erst heute hörte, und nun fürchte ich, daß Hae. schon fortgereist ist usw.’3 Er schreibt von Herrn Mastowok⁠⟨⁠y⁠⟩⁠ aus Krakau und daß er ihm sehr gern erlaube, daß er seine Werke ins Polnische übersetzen, aber erwähne, daß alle seine Werke schon von Kowalewsky ins Russische übersetzt sein!4 Ich soll diesen Brief an Mastowoky schicken, habe aber die Adresse nicht und bitte Dich daher mir dieselbe zu schicken außerdem möchte ich gern den Brief von Darwin behalten.’

Footnotes

For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
The date is established by the location of this quotation, in a letter from Agnes Haeckel to Ernst Haeckel of 3 March 1873; see n. 3, below.
The original letter from CD has not been found. This quotation and the following summary are in a letter from Agnes Haeckel to Ernst Haeckel dated 3 March 1873. CD was responding to a letter from Ernst Haeckel of 23 February 1873 (see Correspondence vol. 21).
Ludwik Masłowski had co-translated Naturliche Schöpfungsgeschichte (Haeckel 1871), and later translated Descent into Polish (Masłowski trans. 1874–5). Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky had been CD’s Russian translator since 1867.

Bibliography

Haeckel, Ernst. 1871. Dzieje utworzenia przyrody. (Polish translation of Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte by Jan Czarnecki and Ludwik Masłowski.) 2 vols. Lvov: Jan Czarnecki.

Translation

To Agnes Haeckel1   [before 3 March 1873]2

‘Three letters have come for you or rather only two, the third is addressed to me from—Darwin!! A very nice letter, he writes roughly as follows: ‘I received two days ago a very friendly letter and an interesting address in French from Prof. Haeckel. My wife, who always translates German letters for me, was ill, so that I heard the letter for the first time today, and now I’m afraid that Hae. has already gone away etc.’3 He writes of Herr Mastowok⁠⟨⁠y⁠⟩⁠ from Cracow and that he would very happily allow his works to be translated into Polish, but mentions that all his works have already been translated into Russian by Kowalewsky!4 I am supposed to send this letter to Mastowoky, but I don’t have the address and so I ask you to send it to me, also I would really like to keep Darwin’s letter.’

Footnotes

For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see p. 531.
The date is established by the location of this quotation, in a letter from Agnes Haeckel to Ernst Haeckel of 3 March 1873; see n. 3, below.
The original letter from CD has not been found. This quotation and the following summary are in a letter from Agnes Haeckel to Ernst Haeckel dated 3 March 1873. CD was responding to a letter from Ernst Haeckel of 23 February 1873 (see Correspondence vol. 21).
Ludwik Masłowski had co-translated Naturliche Schöpfungsgeschichte (Haeckel 1871), and later translated Descent into Polish (Masłowski trans. 1874–5). Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky had been CD’s Russian translator since 1867.

Bibliography

Haeckel, Ernst. 1871. Dzieje utworzenia przyrody. (Polish translation of Natürliche Schöpfungsgeschichte by Jan Czarnecki and Ludwik Masłowski.) 2 vols. Lvov: Jan Czarnecki.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-8703F
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Agnes Huschke/Agnes Haeckel
Source of text
Ernst-Haeckel-Haus (Bestand A [34831])
Physical description
CC CC 1p inc

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8703F,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8703F.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 24 (Supplement)

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