To John Murray 12 April 1874
Down, | Beckenham, Kent.
Ap 12th 1874
My dear Sir
I am much obliged to you for considering so carefully my book.1 The more I think of the subject the more inclined I am for a cheap Edition. I have compared Lyell’s Manual2 & the Origin & I see that the type & spaces between the lines are the same, excepting that the letters are thicker in the Manual, & this I think a very great advantage. Could you afford to have the spaces between the lines a little wider than in the Manual; & if so I should be perfectly contented; & so would Mrs. Darwin which is a much more serious concern! I suppose it would not do to have the pages in double column, as by this plan almost any type is legible. Pray let me hear what you ultimately advise. I imagine that it will prove impossible to have the whole in one volume
Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin
P.S. Do you know Routledge’s edit. of Motley’s Dutch Republic in double columns?3 The type is smaller than in the Origin, & yet all here declare that it can be read with ease. My son4 has calculated that 50 pages additional to both vols of the Descent wd require only 450 pages of Motley; so that I imagine the Descent might be printed in the same type with Lyell’s Manual & all wd go in 550 pages if printed like Motley. I can see no real objection to a scientific book being in double columns—5
Nevertheless 2 vols is in some respects an advantage, & I shd be quite contented to see my book in the same type as Lyell’s Manuals & in 2 vols; but if you cd afford a little wider space between the lines it wd be very advantageous.
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent 2d ed.: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. London: John Murray. 1874.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Lyell, Charles. 1874. The student’s elements of geology. 2d edition. London: John Murray.
Motley, John Lothrop. 1855. The rise of the Dutch republic. 3 vols. London: John Chapman.
Motley, John Lothrop. 1873. Rise of the Dutch republic: a history. London: George Routledge and Sons.
Summary
Discusses 2d edition of Descent. CD is inclined to a cheap edition and asks JM to consider a one-volume edition in double-column format.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-9404
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Murray
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 348–9)
- Physical description
- LS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 9404,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-9404.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 22