Ɛpsilon

To A. W. Bennett   17 July [1875]1

Down. | Beckenham Kent. &c.

July 17th.

My dear Sir.

I must thank you very sincerely, whether or not the proceeding is a proper one on my part, for your magnificent Review in Nature—2 I shall be amply rewarded if my book deserves less than half of what your kind sympathy has led you to say.—

I did not answer your card, for I receive so many letters I hardly can answer them; one of my sons also detected the stupid blunder, which is corrected in the later copies.3

I heard today that 2250 Copies have been sold; I advised Mr Murray very badly for I told him if 1250 were printed these would last for all eternity—4

Yours sincerely & obliged. | Ch Darwin.

Copy

1
The year is established by the reference to Bennett’s review of Insectivorous plants (see n. 2, below).
2
The first part of Bennett’s review of Insectivorous plants appeared in Nature, 15 July 1875, pp. 206–9. The second part was published in Nature, 22 July 1875, pp. 228–31.
3
Bennett’s card has not been found. George Howard Darwin had sent a list of corrections for the second printing of Insectivorous plants to the printers (see letter from G. H. Darwin to William Clowes & Sons, 11 July 1875).
4
For the reservations CD expressed about the success of Insectivorous plants to his publisher, John Murray, see the letter to R. F. Cooke, 4 July [1875] and n. 2.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10074,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10074