To H. N. Moseley 20 January 1879
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
Jan 20th. 1879
Dear Moseley
I have just received your book, & I declare that never in my life have I seen a Dedication which I admired so much. Of course I am not a fair judge, but I hope that I speak dispassionately, though you have touched me in my very tenderest point, by saying that my old Journal mainly gave you the wish to travel as a Naturalist. I shall begin to read your book this very evening, & am sure that I shall enjoy it much—1
Yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin
Footnotes
To Charles Darwin, Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., from the study of whose Journal of researches I mainly derived my desire to travel round the world, to the development of whose theory I owe the principal pleasures and interests of my life, and who has personally given me much kindly encouragement in the prosecution of my studies, this book is, by permission, gratefully dedicated.
Journal of researches was CD’s account of his experiences on the Beagle voyage. CD and Moseley had met one another in 1876 and corresponded since that year (Correspondence vol. 24). The Challenger expedition lasted from 1872 until 1876. CD’s annotated copy of Moseley 1879 is in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 607).Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Journal of researches: Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, RN, from 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Henry Colburn. 1839.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Moseley, Henry Nottidge. 1879. Notes by a naturalist on the ‘Challenger’, being an account of various observations made during the voyage of H.M.S. ‘Challenger’ round the world, in the years 1872–1876. London: Macmillan and Co.
Summary
Thanks for HNM’s [Notes by a naturalist on the "Challenger" (1879)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-11837
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Henry Nottidge Moseley
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Christie’s, London (dealers) (online 31 October – 8 November 2018, lot 11)
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11837,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11837.xml
