From W. R. S. Ralston 2 December 1875
8 Alfred Place | Bedford Sq
Decr. 2. 1875
Dear Mr. Darwin
Your unknown correspondent is not a Russian. His letter comes from Tiflis, and is written, I believe, in Georgian.1 I am not acquainted with anyone who knows that tongue, and some years ago, when I wanted to get a short Georgian inscription deciphered, I had to send it to Russia. However, if you will allow me, I will keep the letter for a few days before returning it. If no interpreter can be found I should suggest that the letter be returned to the writer at Tiflis, with a line (in Russian, which he is sure to understand, and which I shall be happy to supply) asking him to write in some European tongue. He gives his address in the postscript.
Hoping to have the pleasure of meeting you at Litchfield’s when you come to town,2 and with renewed assurances of the pleasure I shall always feel when I can be of any service to you, I remain, with kind regards to Mrs. Darwin, | Yours very truly | W R S Ralston
Footnotes
Summary
CD’s letter from Tiflis is not in Russian but Georgian.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10287
- From
- William Ralston Shedden-Ralston
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Bedford Square
- Source of text
- DAR 176: 5
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10287,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10287.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23