From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
10 Feb 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B14
Summary:
Birthday greetings.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
12 Feb 1879
Source of text:
University of Michigan, Bentley Historical Library (John Robert Crouse autograph collection)
Summary:
Thanks for honour of latest number of Kosmos.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
9 Mar 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36175)
Summary:
CD and his brother Erasmus have read EK’s article on Erasmus Darwin. Asks whether EK would object to a translation by W. Dallas, to be offered to Fortnightly Review or to be published at CD’s expense as a book.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
12 Mar 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B15–16
Summary:
Glad CD is pleased by his "Erasmus Darwin". Was not able to obtain book by Anna Seward [Memoirs of the life of Dr Darwin (1804)]. Could CD check relevant passages for errors? Would be great honour if CD could arrange English translation. Wants to enlarge essay into book.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
14 Mar 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36176)
Summary:
Pleased to hear that EK agrees to CD’s request to have article on Erasmus Darwin translated. Will wait for EK’s enlargement. Has decided submission to Fortnightly Review would be useless.
Warns against Anna Seward’s biography of Dr Darwin.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
17 Mar 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B17–18
Summary:
Had doubts about excerpt from Anna Seward’s book [Life of Dr Darwin]. Sends slightly enlarged version of his "Erasmus Darwin". Includes footnote denouncing Seward’s book.
Finds that part 2 of ED’s Botanic garden, 2d ed. (1790), appeared before part 1 (1791).
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
19 Mar 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36177)
Summary:
Sends copy of a lecture [by John Dowson, see 11949] published in 1861.
Has not yet found a copy of Anna Seward’s biography for EK. It is a wretched, inaccurate book. To contradict Anna Seward’s version, CD intends to write a short preface to the translation of EK’s essay. Doubts that it will be worth translating into German.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
24 Mar 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B19–20
Summary:
Thanks for sketch of Erasmus Darwin by John Dowson [see Erasmus Darwin, p. iv]; would like to incorporate this information into MS. Previous biographers of Erasmus Darwin had insufficient knowledge of what appeared in his works.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
27 Mar 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36178)
Summary:
CD has written to members of the family for Dr Erasmus Darwin materials and letters. Is apprehensive lest his preface and EK’s essay interfere with one another. Will confine himself to ED’s character and letters;
has begun investigating the influence he had on medical practice.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
30 Mar 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B21
Summary:
Wants to finish revision of MS on Erasmus Darwin before Dallas begins translation. Has discussed possible German edition with Carl Alberts.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
2 Apr 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36179)
Summary:
CD agrees entirely with EK’s proposal. Has collected a good deal of material. Useless to hunt for correspondence between Dr Darwin and Samuel Johnson. They met only once and hated one another. Dr Darwin is said to have taken Henry Brooke, who published a poem entitled "Universal beauty", as a model.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
2 May 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36181)
Summary:
CD is leaving home for three weeks’ rest. If EK finishes his life of Dr Darwin while CD is away, asks him to send the MS to W. S. Dallas for translation. CD will begin his preface, but needs rest and will not do much until he returns.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
5 [May] 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36180)
Summary:
Thinks it better to send proofs of his preface [to Erasmus Darwin] rather than MS – he always corrects proofs heavily. Doubts that it is worth translating into German – it is written for the English public. Supposes EK will not object to a French translation and an American edition of the little book. Has written a dozen pages during a break
in his experimental work [on movement of plants].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
5 May 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B22–3
Summary:
Sends first part of MS of Erasmus Darwin.
Has found useful criticism of Anna Seward in J. G. Lockhart’s Life of Sir Walter Scott.
CD should regard MS as a draft and correct anything that seems incorrect or questionable. Asks biographical questions about Dr Darwin. Can CD give information about origin of family name?
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
8 May 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B24–5
Summary:
Will wait for CD’s preliminary essay before proceeding with German edition [of Erasmus Darwin]. Regards CD’s essay as the principal attraction. Would like to finish German edition by end of July.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
9 May [1879]
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36182)
Summary:
Answers EK’s queries about Erasmus Darwin’s friends and relations. Will rectify Anna Seward’s false account of Dr Darwin’s conduct. Advises EK to leave to him the account of the Darwin family. Declines EK’s offer to allow CD to alter his MS. Fears repetition in the two essays. They can judge how best to present the material when they have seen each other’s manuscripts.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
13 May 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36183)
Summary:
Assures EK he will lose no time in writing his essay [on Erasmus Darwin].
A book by Samuel Butler on Erasmus Darwin and Lamarck has been announced [Evolution, old and new (1879)]. Will have a copy sent to EK.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Charles Robert Darwin
To:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
Date:
14 May 1879
Source of text:
The Huntington Library (HM 36184)
Summary:
Assures EK that he will not change his mind about publishing a translation of EK’s article on Erasmus Darwin. It is unfortunate that Samuel Butler should have published [Evolution, old and new] just then, but that does not change CD’s determination.
Butler is clever, but knows no science. His views that cells have memory and the power of wishing – even if correct – cannot explain how they could change themselves chemically or structurally.
EK can do anything he likes with CD’s preface [to Erasmus Darwin].
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
15 May 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B26
Summary:
Thanks for answers to questions [in 12032].
Has ordered the new book by Butler [Evolution, old and new (1879)]. It may make EK’s own essay superfluous.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
From:
Ernst Ludwig (Ernst) Krause
To:
Charles Robert Darwin
Date:
23 May 1879
Source of text:
DAR 92: B28
Summary:
Samuel Butler seems not even to have read works of Erasmus Darwin. Quotes only passages quoted by other authors. Thorough account now more necessary than ever.
CD’s preliminary notice should be incorporated in German edition completely unchanged, though some annotation is needed to explain matters unfamiliar to German readers.
Would like to have article by CD for Kosmos.
Contributor:
Darwin Correspondence Project
