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Darwin Correspondence Project

To Margaret Hadley   4 April 1882

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)

April 4th 1882

Madam

I have the pleasure to send my signature on next page.— I think that an indifferent person wd. best select a passage: nor am I well enough at present to copy out one for you.—1 About any sentence from my “Naturalists Voyage” or the “Origin of Species” would do.— The concluding sentence in the last-named book has struck some persons & there are sentences about Slavery in the former which would perhaps serve.—2 These books you wd. find in most public libraries.—

I remain, Madam | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
The copyist noted that this was a letter from CD to Miss Margaret Hadley, who has not been further identified. Her letter has not been found, but she had evidently asked CD to select and write out a section from one of his books, as well as for his signature and date of birth (see letter to Margaret Hadley, 6 April [1882]). It is unclear why she wanted this information.
2
The last sentence of Origin 6th ed. reads, ‘There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed by the Creator into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being evolved.’ The references to slavery are in Journal of researches 2d ed., pp. 20–1, 24–5, and 499–500. This edition was sold as part of John Murray’s Home and Colonial Library with the title ‘Naturalist’s Voyage’ on the spine; by 1879, ‘A naturalist’s voyage’ appeared on the title page of the work (Freeman 1977).

Bibliography

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.

Journal of researches 2d ed.: Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN. 2d edition, corrected, with additions. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1845.

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

Sends signature.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-13758
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Margaret Hadley
Sent from
Down
Source of text
DAR 144: 367
Physical description
C 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13758,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13758.xml

letter

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