To Theodor Piderit 2 August [1871]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. [Haredene, Albury. Guildford.]
Augt 2d
Dear Sir
I am much obliged for your very kind letter.2 I have a copy & know your work on Mimik &c which I have found very useful & often quote.3 But I am a poor German scholar, & your style, like that of my good friend Fritz Müller, I find very difficult to understand. Accordingly I employed a man to translate for me several passages.4 These I have given in my introduction, in order to shew, as far as is possible by a few sentences, your views.—5 I fear that I may not do you full justice, but assuredly I have tried my best to do so; & anyhow the reader of my book will know of the existence & general nature of yours.
I am much out of health & (so pray excuse brevity) have now left my home for a month’s rest.6 On my return to Down I shall no doubt find the book, which you have so kindly sent me.7
With much respect & my best thanks, I remain Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
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.
Piderit, Theodor. 1867. Wissenschaftliches System der Mimik und Physiognomik. Detmold: Klingenberg’sche Buchhandlung.
Summary
Comments on TP’s work on mimicry.
Thanks for book he is sending [Wissenschaftliches System der Mimik und Physiognomik (1867)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7893
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Theodor Piderit
- Sent from
- Haredene Down letterhead
- Source of text
- Landesarchiv Nordrhein-Westfalen, Abteilung Ostwestfalen-Lippe (D 72 Piderit, Theodor Nr. 8)
- Physical description
- ALS 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7893,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7893.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19