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From Smith, Elder & Co.   1 May 1876

15, Waterloo Place, | London, | S.W.

1st. May 1876

Charles Darwin Esqre. | Down, | Beckenham.

Dear Sir,

We have the pleasure to inform you that the woodblocks of the illustrations to your works “The Geology of South America” and “Volcanic Islands” are in our possession with the exception of Figs 14, 18. 19. 24 of “South America” and Figs 3, 5. 6. 7. 11 of “Volcanic Islands”.1 We shall be obliged if you will ascertain whether the missing woodblocks are now in your possession.2

We are, Dear Sir, | Yours faithfully, | Smith Elder & C.

CD annotations

1.3 Figs 3,] ‘Bomb, borrowed by me for Journal’3 pencil
1.4 5.] ‘incrustation | used in Journal’4 pencil
1.4 6. 7.] circled pencil; ‘not used by [illeg]’5 pencil
1.4 11] circled pencil; ‘Journal | Map of Galapagos’6 pencil
Top of letter: ‘18 borrowed for Geolog Soc. | 19 never used by me | 14 do do. | 24 do do.’7 blue crayon
End of letter: ‘ My Geological Papers’8 blue crayon

Footnotes

1
Following Julius Victor Carus’s request for copies of Volcanic islands and South America to translate into German, Smith, Elder & Co. decided to bring out new editions of these out-of-print works (see letter to Smith, Elder & Co., 20 April [1876], and letter to J. V. Carus, 24 April 1876). They were published by Smith, Elder & Co. in a single volume in 1876 (Geological observations 2d ed.).
2
CD had borrowed some of the missing illustrations for use in his later works (see nn. 3, 4, and 6, below), and one had already been used in an earlier article (see n. 7).
3
Figure 3 in Volcanic islands, p. 36, depicts a spherical volcanic bomb; the figure was reproduced in Journal of researches (1860), p. 494, published by John Murray.
4
Figure 5 in Volcanic islands, p. 51, depicts an incrustation of calcareous and animal matter coating the tidal rocks at Ascension Island; the figure was reproduced in Journal of researches (1860), p. 9.
5
Figure 6 depicts enlarged opaque brown sphaerulites, and figure 7 shows the sphaerulites as they appear when united in a layer in a feldspathic stone; both figures appear in Volcanic islands, p. 59.
6
Figure 11 in Volcanic islands, p. 98, is a map of the Galápagos Archipelago that CD reproduced in Journal of researches (1860), p. 372.
7
Figure 18 in South America, p. 114, shows a section of the plains of Patagonia on the banks of the river Santa Cruz; it was first used in CD’s paper ‘Distribution of the erratic boulders’, published in the Transactions of the Geological Society in 1842 (Shorter publications, p. 148). Figure 19 shows a section of the cliffs at Point Tenuy (part of Corona Head, Chiloé Island), Patagonia (South America, p. 122), figure 14 shows a ground-plan of a bifurcating valley in the Cordillera (South America, p. 63), and figure 24 shows strata of the valley of Despoblado (in the Atacama Desert) in Chile (South America, p. 231).
8
In Geological observations 2d ed., pp. v–vi, CD referred readers to four of his geological papers in order to complete the account of the geological observations made during the voyage of the Beagle.

Bibliography

‘Distribution of the erratic boulders’: On the distribution of the erratic boulders and on the contemporaneous unstratified deposits of South America. By Charles Darwin. [Read 5 May 1841.] Transactions of the Geological Society of London 2d ser. 6 (1841–2): 415–31. [Shorter publications, pp. 147–62. For read date, see Proceedings of the Geological Society of London 3 (1838–42): 425.]

Geological observations 2d ed.: Geological observations on the volcanic islands and parts of South America visited during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Beagle’. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1876.

Journal of researches (1860): Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle around the world, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN. By Charles Darwin. Reprint edition. London: John Murray. 1860.

Shorter publications: Charles Darwin’s shorter publications, 1829–1883. Edited by John van Wyhe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2009.

South America: Geological observations on South America. Being the third part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1846.

Volcanic islands: Geological observations on the volcanic islands, visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle, together with some brief notices on the geology of Australia and the Cape of Good Hope. Being the second part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1844.

Summary

Informs CD which woodblocks of illustrations to the Geology of "Beagle" are in their possession and which are missing.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10488
From
Smith, Elder & Co
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Waterloo Place, 15
Source of text
CD’s copy of Volcanic islands (CUL, CCA 24.14); tipped in at back
Physical description
ALS 1p †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10488,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10488.xml

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

letter

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