From John Murray 12 November [1872]
Summary
Price of Expression is 12s.
Sends cheque to pay CD his share of profits on Origin [6th ed.].
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Nov [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 430 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8622 |
From John Murray 12 August 1874
Summary
Acknowledges CD’s complaint against a paper [by St George Mivart] in the last Quarterly Review [see 9568]. Agrees to print George Darwin’s answer [see 9596].
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Aug 1874 |
| Classmark: | National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 41914 p. 203) |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-9599A |
From John Murray 9 November 1872
Summary
The reception of Expression has exceeded even JM’s expectations; 5267 copies were sold at the annual sale. CD’s modesty about the work had misled him about its probable sale.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 9 Nov 1872 |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 429 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8616 |
From John Murray 24 October [1870]
Summary
Sends table of sales [of Journal of researches]. 2000 copies sold since 1860.
Descent has gone to press for 2500 copies.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 24 Oct [1870] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 380 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-7350 |
Matches: 2 hits
From John Murray 12 February [1868]
Summary
CD’s letter encourages Murray to proceed with a new edition of Variation; corrections will cost £176.
First notice has appeared in Pall Mall Gazette [7 (1868): 555].
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 12 Feb [1868] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171 : 355 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5869 |
From John Murray 23 September [1867]
Summary
Schweizerbart anxious to get Variation sheets for German translation. Hopes he has found a good indexer in W. S. Dallas.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 23 Sept [1867] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 351 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-5633 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … John Murray, 19 September [1867] . The enclosure has not been found. Christian Friedrich Schweizerbart was the director of the German firm, E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung , that published the German translation of Variation. Julius Victor Carus , CD’s German translator, had also written requesting proof-sheets (see letter from J. V. Carus, 11 …
From John Murray 6 November [1872]
Summary
Is convinced that 2000 more copies [of Expression] must be printed without delay in order to meet demand. He therefore asks CD to send his corrections to the printer at once.
| Author: | John Murray |
| Addressee: | Charles Robert Darwin |
| Date: | 6 Nov [1872] |
| Classmark: | DAR 171: 428 |
| Letter no: | DCP-LETT-8602 |
Matches: 1 hit
- … John Murray, 7 November [1872] . Murray had originally planned to print 5000 copies of Expression (see letter from R. F. Cooke to G. H. Darwin, 13 August 1872 ). According to Freeman 1977 , 7000 were published on 26 November 1872, but two different issues of the text are detectable. William Clowes & Sons were Murray’s printers. Murray’s trade sale took place on Friday 8 November 1872 ( letter from R. F. Cooke, 11 …
| letter | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Darwin, C. R. | (7) |
| Murray, John (b) | (7) |
List of correspondents
Summary
Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click on a name to see the letters Darwin exchanged with that correspondent. "A child of God" (1) Abberley,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Below is a list of Darwin's correspondents with the number of letters for each one. Click …
John Murray
Summary
Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was published on 22 November 1859. The publisher was John Murray, who specialised in non-fiction, particularly politics, travel and science, and had published…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin's most famous book On the origin of species by means of natural selection (Origin) was …
The Lyell–Lubbock dispute
Summary
In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book Prehistoric times, accused Lyell of plagiarism. The dispute caused great dismay among many of their mutual scientific friends, some of whom took immediate action…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In May 1865 a dispute arose between John Lubbock and Charles Lyell when Lubbock, in his book …
Darwin in letters, 1874: A turbulent year
Summary
The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early months working on second editions of Coral reefs and Descent of man; the rest of the year was mostly devoted to further research on insectivorous plants. A…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1874 was one of consolidation, reflection, and turmoil for Darwin. He spent the early …
Darwin in letters, 1872: Job done?
Summary
'My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, 'is so nearly closed. . . What little more I can do, shall be chiefly new work’, and the tenor of his correspondence throughout the year is one of wistful reminiscence, coupled with a keen eye…
Matches: 1 hits
- … ‘My career’, Darwin wrote towards the end of 1872, ‘is so nearly closed. . . What little more I …
Darwin in letters, 1862: A multiplicity of experiments
Summary
1862 was a particularly productive year for Darwin. This was not only the case in his published output (two botanical papers and a book on the pollination mechanisms of orchids), but more particularly in the extent and breadth of the botanical experiments…
Matches: 1 hits
- … As the sheer volume of his correspondence indicates, 1862 was a particularly productive year for …
Darwin in letters, 1867: A civilised dispute
Summary
Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The variation of animals and plants under domestication (Variation). The importance of Darwin’s network of correspondents becomes vividly apparent in his work on expression in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Charles Darwin’s major achievement in 1867 was the completion of his large work, The …
Darwin in letters, 1863: Quarrels at home, honours abroad
Summary
At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of animals and plants under domestication, anticipating with excitement the construction of a hothouse to accommodate his increasingly varied botanical experiments…
Matches: 1 hits
- … At the start of 1863, Charles Darwin was actively working on the manuscript of The variation of …
Darwin in letters, 1865: Delays and disappointments
Summary
The year was marked by three deaths of personal significance to Darwin: Hugh Falconer, a friend and supporter; Robert FitzRoy, captain of the Beagle; and William Jackson Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and father of Darwin’s friend…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1865, the chief work on Charles Darwin’s mind was the writing of The variation of animals and …
Women as a scientific audience
Summary
Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's letters, in particular those exchanged with his editors and publisher, reveal a lot about his intended audience. Regardless of whether or not women were deliberately targeted as a…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Target audience? | Female readership | Reading Variation Darwin's …
Rewriting Origin - the later editions
Summary
For such an iconic work, the text of Origin was far from static. It was a living thing that Darwin continued to shape for the rest of his life, refining his ‘one long argument’ through a further five English editions. Many of his changes were made in…
Matches: 1 hits
- … If I lived 20 more years, & was able to work, how I sh d . have to modify the “Origin”, & …
Darwin in letters, 1871: An emptying nest
Summary
The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, with the publication in February of his long-awaited book on human evolution, Descent of man. The other main preoccupation of the year was the preparation of his manuscript on expression.…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1871 was an extremely busy and productive one for Darwin, seeing the publication of his …
Darwin in letters, 1868: Studying sex
Summary
The quantity of Darwin’s correspondence increased dramatically in 1868 due largely to his ever-widening research on human evolution and sexual selection.Darwin’s theory of sexual selection as applied to human descent led him to investigate aspects of the…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On 6 March 1868, Darwin wrote to the entomologist and accountant John Jenner Weir, ‘If …
Darwin in letters, 1858-1859: Origin
Summary
The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet rural existence filled with steady work on his ‘big book’ on species, he was jolted into action by the arrival of an unexpected letter from Alfred Russel Wallace…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The years 1858 and 1859 were, without doubt, the most momentous of Darwin’s life. From a quiet …
St George Jackson Mivart
Summary
In the second half of 1874, Darwin’s peace was disturbed by an anonymous article in the Quarterly Review suggesting that his son George was opposed to the institution of marriage and in favour of ‘unrestrained licentiousness’. Darwin suspected, correctly,…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1874, the Catholic zoologist St George Jackson Mivart caused Darwin and his son George serious …
Origin
Summary
Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to establish priority for the species theory he had spent over twenty years researching. Darwin never intended to write Origin, and had resisted suggestions in 1856…
Matches: 1 hits
- … Darwin’s most famous work, Origin, had an inauspicious beginning. It grew out of his wish to …
Darwin in letters, 1882: Nothing too great or too small
Summary
In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and for the first time in decades he was not working on another book. He remained active in botanical research, however. Building on his recent studies in plant…
Matches: 1 hits
- … In 1882, Darwin reached his 74th year Earthworms had been published the previous October, and …
Cross and self fertilisation
Summary
The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom, published on 10 November 1876, was the result of a decade-long project to provide evidence for Darwin’s belief that ‘‘Nature thus tells us, in the most emphatic manner, that she abhors…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The effects of cross and self fertilisation in the vegetable kingdom , published on 10 November …
Darwin in letters,1866: Survival of the fittest
Summary
The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was now considerably improved. In February, Darwin received a request from his publisher, John Murray, for a new edition of Origin. Darwin got the fourth…
Matches: 1 hits
- … The year 1866 began well for Charles Darwin, as his health, after several years of illness, was …
Darwin in letters, 1864: Failing health
Summary
On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July 1864: ‘the venerable beard gives the look of your having suffered, and … of having grown older’. Because of poor health, Because of poor health, Darwin…
Matches: 1 hits
- … On receiving a photograph from Charles Darwin, the American botanist Asa Gray wrote on 11 July …
