To G. H. Darwin 24 November 1873
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Nov 24 1873
My dear George
You have been a v. good man to send us so long a letter, which has amused us all.1 I am greatly pleased that you will undertake the Descent.2 I don’t think I shall have any part ready for 1 or 2 months. It is an awful job, not so much from the quantity which I shall write, as in consulting books & reading old letters I doubt whether I shall be able to let you have any till all is completed. There will be no occasion for you to hurry, as the public must wait for the copies which Murray has sold.3 I will give you 2 cautions, viz. not to alter the strength of my expressions & 2ndly not to improve my style too much, as I deliberately think that it is best for each man to retain his own style, & that rather rugged sentences do not signify, if they are perfectly clear (i.e. as unlike Snow’s as possible.)4
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
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
Pleased that GHD will help with second edition of Descent. Cautions him not to alter strength of CD’s expression or improve the style too much.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9159
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- George Howard Darwin
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 210.1: 18
- Physical description
- L 2pp inc
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9159,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9159.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21
