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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Ludwik Masłowski1   14 May 1873

Redakcja | Biblioteki Umiejtności | przyrodniczych. | Kraków

dnia 14 May 1873.

Hochgeehrtester Herr | Professor!

Da ich die Absicht habe Ihr ausgezeichnetes Werk: “The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex”— in die polnische Sprache zu übertragen, bin ich so frei, mich an Herrn Professor mit der Bitte um gefällige Einräumung des Übersetzungsrechtes zu wenden.—2

In Ansicht dessen aber, dass ich bei unserem Lesepublicum keineswegs viel Anklang und Unterstützung werde finden können, da nur ein kleiner Theil desselben wahrhaft intelligent genannt werden kann, und selbst in diesem Kreise nur die Minderzahl auf dem Standpunkte der heutigen Wissenschaft sich befindet, und in einer streng wissenschaftlichen Richtung fortschreitet,—da ferner so Mancher davon, Ihre Werke sich schon angeschafft hat, sei es im Originale, oder einer Übersetzung— hege ich die Hoffnung, dass Sie verehrtester Herr Professor mir die Erlaubniss der Übersetzung einräumen werden, ohne dafür irgend ein Honorar zu verlangen; desto mehr, da ich, wie aus dem Vorhergehenden schon geschlossen werden kann, keineswegs in Erwartung etwaigen persönlichen Gewinnes, als vielmehr nur im Verlangen, meinem Vaterland nützlich werden zu können, Ihr werthvolles Werk unserer Literatur aneignen will.3

Im falle dass Herr Professor gegen meine Bitte nichts einzuwenden hätten, will ich Ihr Werk in der Bibliothek naturhistorischer Wissenschaften, die ich vor einem halben Jahre begründet habe, herausgeben, so wie darin bis nun Thyndall’s: “Heat as a mode of motion”—und Hoffmann’s: “Einleitung in die moderne Chemie”—erschienen sind.4

Wenn nun Herr Professor die Übersetzung Ihres Werkes, für deren Strenge und Richtigkeit, das Redactions-Comité von elf Professoren der Krakauer und Lemberger Universität bürgt,5—mir gefälligst anvertrauen wollten, würde ich noch um Ertheilung einer kleinen Correspondenz an Ihren Verleger bitten, da ich mit ihm um Ankauf von Metallabdrücken der in Ihrem Werke befindlichen Holzschnitte unterhandeln würde.—6

In der Hoffnung dass Herr Professor meiner Bitte zusagen werden, erwarte ich eine gütige möglichstbaldige Antwort.

Verbleibe mit dem Ausdrucke besonderer Hochachtung | Ludwig Masłowski. Redact. d. Bibl. naturh. Wiss. | Ringplatz No. 33.

Footnotes

For a translation of this letter, see Appendix I.
Ernst Haeckel had already told CD that Masłowski was interested in translating Descent into Polish (see letter from Ernest Haeckel, 23 February 1873 and n. 7).
For the reception of Darwinism in Poland, see Schümann 2008.
Masłowski published the Polish translation of Descent under the auspices of the Biblioteka Umiejtności Przyrodniczych (Library of natural sciences; Masłowski trans. 1874–5). See Schümann 2008, p. 250 n. 8. John Tyndall’s work on heat (Tyndall 1863) was the first volume of the Biblioteka Umiejtności Przyrodniczych series (Masłowski trans. 1873). The translation of August Wilhelm von Hofmann’s introduction to chemistry (Hofmann 1865) was not published until 1875 (Masłowski trans. 1875).
These professors may have belonged to the positivist group that championed CD’s ideas in Poland (see Schümann 2008, pp. 247–50). Lemberg is the German name for the Polish city of Lwów, now the Ukrainian city of Lviv.
CD’s publisher was John Murray. There were seventy-six woodcuts in Descent.

Bibliography

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

Hofmann, August Wilhelm von. 1865. Introduction to modern chemistry, experimental and theoretic: embodying twelve lectures delivered in the Royal College of Chemistry, London. London: Walton and Maberley.

Schümann, Daniel. 2008. Struggle for or against participation? How Darwinism came to partitioned Poland in the 1860s and early 1870s. In The reception of Charles Darwin in Europe, edited by Eve-Marie Engels and Thomas F. Glick. London and New York: Continuum.

Tyndall, John. 1863. Heat considered as a mode of motion: being a course of twelve lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in the season of 1862. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green.

Translation

From Ludwik Masłowski1   14 May 1873

Editorial Office | Biblioteki Umiejtności | przyrodniczych. | Cracow

on 14 May 1873.

Most honoured | Professor!

Since I have it in mind to translate your excellent work: “The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex”—into Polish, I take the liberty of approaching you, professor, with the request that you may kindly grant me permission to do so.2

Taking into consideration, however, that I shall definitely not find much appreciation and support among our reading public, for only a small section thereof can be called truly intelligent, and even among these only a minority has mastered the standards of modern science and proceeds in a strictly scientific direction,—and further that some of them have already acquired your work, either in the original or in a translation—I cherish the hope that you, most venerated professor, will grant me permission to translate without demanding any payment; all the more since I, as can be inferred from the above, by no means in the expectation of possible personal gain, but rather solely in the desire of making myself useful to my fatherland, plan to incorporate your valuable work into our literature.3

If, professor, you had no objections, I would publish your work in the Library of natural historical sciences, which I myself founded six months ago, just as Tyndall’s “Heat as a mode of motion”—and Hoffmann’s: “Introduction to modern chemistry”—have already appeared there.4

If, professor, you would be pleased to entrust to me the translation of your work, the rigour and accuracy of which would be guaranteed by the editorial committee of eleven professors from Cracow and Lemberg university;5—I would furthermore request that you send a small communication to your publisher, who I would want to negotiate with regarding the purchase of the metal plates of the woodcuts contained in your work.—6

In the hope, professor, that you will consent to my request, I await a favourable reply as soon as possible.

I remain with special regard | Ludwig Masłowski. Editor, Library of natural historical science | Ringplatz No. 33.

Footnotes

For a transcription of this letter in its original German, see pp. 213–14.
Ernst Haeckel had already told CD that Masłowski was interested in translating Descent into Polish (see letter from Ernest Haeckel, 23 February 1873 and n. 7).
For the reception of Darwinism in Poland, see Schümann 2008.
Masłowski published the Polish translation of Descent under the auspices of the Biblioteka Umiejtności Przyrodniczych (Library of natural sciences; Masłowski trans. 1874–5). See Schümann 2008, p. 250 n. 8. John Tyndall’s work on heat (Tyndall 1863) was the first volume of the Biblioteka Umiejtności Przyrodniczych series (Masłowski trans. 1873). The translation of August Wilhelm von Hofmann’s introduction to chemistry (Hofmann 1865) was not published until 1875 (Masłowski trans. 1875).
These professors may have belonged to the positivist group that championed CD’s ideas in Poland (see Schümann 2008, pp. 247–50). Lemberg is the German name for the Polish city of Lwów, now the Ukrainian city of Lviv.
CD’s publisher was John Murray. There were seventy-six woodcuts in Descent.

Bibliography

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

Hofmann, August Wilhelm von. 1865. Introduction to modern chemistry, experimental and theoretic: embodying twelve lectures delivered in the Royal College of Chemistry, London. London: Walton and Maberley.

Schümann, Daniel. 2008. Struggle for or against participation? How Darwinism came to partitioned Poland in the 1860s and early 1870s. In The reception of Charles Darwin in Europe, edited by Eve-Marie Engels and Thomas F. Glick. London and New York: Continuum.

Tyndall, John. 1863. Heat considered as a mode of motion: being a course of twelve lectures delivered at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in the season of 1862. London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green.

Summary

Requests permission to translate Descent into Polish.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-8910
From
Ludwik Masłowski
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Cracow
Source of text
DAR 171: 89
Physical description
ALS 3pp (German), C 4pp (German) †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8910,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8910.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 21

letter