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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. V. Carus   16 July 1872

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

July 16 1872

My dear Sir

I am sorry to hear of the illness in your family, which is the greatest misery a man can suffer.1

I am not surprized that you want rest, for no man I shd think has done so much hard work as you have.

My book on expression will be about equal to 400 pages of the same size & type as the “Descent”. I have corrected about half in first proofs, & I will today write to the printers to send me an extra copy of the second proofs whenever I get them. These I will transmit to you.2

There will be 21 wood-blocks & 7 plates printed by the heliotype process.3

Your publisher will have to procure these ready to bind in vol. in London, & the cost of 1000 copies of the 7 plates I conjecture will be about £50.

I am glad you have finished the Origin: I can assure you that Mivart’s book produced a great effect here & in America.

I was induced to discuss at some length the benefit of incipient structures, partly because it gave me a good occasion to introduce many cases of gradation.4

When next you write to yr publisher, will you ask him to send me a copy of your translation of the Descent with one of the Origin, as I gave away the German Descent to Dr Klein.5

Please to remark that I do not by any means vouch that my Expression book is worth yr translating. Very many thanks for yr intended present of the Hist. of Zoology—6

My dear Sir | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

Carus had translated Descent into German (Carus trans. 1871) and wanted to begin the German translation of Expression (Carus trans. 1872b).
Eduard Friedrich Koch was director of the publishing house E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung of Stuttgart, publisher of the German translation of the sixth edition of Origin (Bronn and Carus trans. 1872) and of Descent (Carus trans. 1871). CD probably knew Edward Emanuel Klein through Francis Galton (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter from Francis Galton, 21 November 1871 and n. 4).

Bibliography

Carus, Julius Victor. 1872a. Geschichte der Zoologie bis auf Joh. Müller und Charl. Darwin. Munich: R. Oldenbourg.

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

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.

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

Will send second proofs of Expression.

Glad JVC has finished translating Origin.

Assures him that Mivart’s book [On the genesis of species (1871)] has produced a great effect in England and America. CD has discussed incipient structures at some length because it enabled him to give many cases of gradation.

Asks JVC to note that he does not vouch for Expression’s being worth translating.

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8415,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8415.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20

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