To J. D. Hooker   19 June [1875]1

Abinger Hall | Wotton, Surrey | (Gomshall Station for Rail)

June 19th

My dear Hooker

I heard from Henrietta that she saw you at the Coll: of Surgeons & that you seemed pretty well.—2  Farrer has most kindly lent us this house for a month & I write now to know whether there is any chance that you would come here (& please bring Harriet, if she is inclined to come.)3 on Saturday 26th for the Sunday. You know how we shd. rejoice to see you both if you can come.

I was very much worn out by correcting “Insectivorous plants”, & so came here for rest.—

I have now done with the book, & I suppose copies will be bound in a week or two, & of course you will receive one.—4

I am so sick of the accursed subject, that I daresay if I look at my book in half-a-year’s time I shall read it with speechless admiration!

Yours ever affectionately | Ch. Darwin

I daresay you have heard that poor Effie (Mrs. Farrer)5 is much out of health & has gone to German Baths.

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Hooker, 20 June 1875.
2
In a letter to Emma Darwin of [5 June 1875] (DAR 245: 54), Henrietta Emma Litchfield mentioned that she planned to attend a party at the Royal College of Surgeons the following week.
3
CD stayed at Abinger Hall, the home of Thomas Henry Farrer, from 3 June to 6 July 1875 (see CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). Harriet Anne Hooker was Hooker’s daughter.
4
Hooker’s name is on CD’s presentation list for Insectivorous plants, which was published on 2 July 1875 (see CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II) and Appendix IV).
5
Katherine Euphemia Farrer.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Gomshall … Rail)] square brackets in MS; before del ‘Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.’
1.5 both] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10024,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10024