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Darwin Correspondence Project

To John Murray   22 [November 1860]1

Down Bromley Kent

22d

My dear Mr Murray

Thank you for your note. You do not say that you can send a copy of sheets of Origin for corrections: if you have not please get 2d-hand copy from Mudie2 & send me & charge to me.—3

I hate troubling you to write, so please ask one of your Clerks to write & tell me how soon you wish me to begin to send proofs to Printers, as I have about 10 days or fortnight’s work, which I should much like to get finished before I begin.—4

All my corrections I conjecture would not take above 3 weeks & I Could send some sheets to Printers after I have done half.— But what will be longest job will be to glance over all the endless Reviews to guide me in my corrections—

Yours very sincerely | C. Darwin

Footnotes

The endorsement seems to refer to the date of Murray’s response (see n. 3, below). The month is otherwise confirmed by the relationship to the preceding letter and to the letter to John Murray, 3 December [1860].
Mudie’s Select Library, a subscription lending library, had purchased 500 copies of the first edition of Origin on publication (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to John Murray, 24 November [1859], n. 1). The library was owned by Charles Edward Mudie.
CD evidently received from Murray a copy of the volume on which to mark up his corrections. See letter to John Murray, 3 December [1860].
CD refers to his study of insectivorous plants, the results of which he was writing up. According to his journal (de Beer ed. 1959), CD began to prepare the third edition of Origin in December 1860.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.

Summary

Asks how soon he must send proofs [of Origin, 3d ed.] to printer. His corrections would not take more than three weeks. The longest job will be to glance over the endless reviews to guide him in his corrections.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-3029
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Murray
Sent from
Down
Source of text
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff. 72–73)
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 3029,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-3029.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 8

letter