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Darwin Correspondence Project

To John Murray   20 November 1875

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Nov. 20. 1875

My dear Sir

I am greatly pleased that the sale of my book is so flourishing, & shall be glad to receive your cheque.—1 I do not, however, understand about the Origin of Species: I have a memorandum that 2000 copies were last printed off & am sure that there was no mistake in this number. Therefore I suppose that I neglected to record 1500 since printed off, or that you forgot to tell me at the time.—2

You say in your note that you have 300 copies of “Climbing Plants”, but this must have been written by mistake for “Insectivorous Plants”, & you propose to print off 500 more copies before distributing the type.3 So that you will have 800 copies & these I shd think in all probability would last for ever, & I shall not be sorry to escape the labour of correcting a new & final Edition.—

My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

P.S I owe you a large account for copies of Insectivorous Plants for distribution; & if you will send it, deducting your presentation copies to me, I will immediately send you a cheque.—4 I have also had copies of some of my other books from you.—

Footnotes

In his letter of 19 November [1875], Murray had listed 1500 copies for the 1875 reprint of Origin 6th ed.; see, however, letter from John Murray, 22 November [1875].
For CD’s presentation list for Insectivorous plants, see Appendix IV.

Bibliography

Climbing plants 2d ed.: The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Insectivorous plants. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Origin 6th ed.: The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 6th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.

Summary

Greatly pleased at sale [of Climbing plants].

Points out a discrepancy in their records of copies of Origin printed.

500 more copies of Insectivorous plants should last forever.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10267
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Murray
Sent from
Down
Source of text
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 318–19)
Physical description
ALS 4pp & ADraft 1p

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10267,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10267.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23

letter