Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   17 November 1875

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Nov 17. 1875

My dear Sir

Many thanks about the stereotypes.1 Please to remember that I shall lose 200 dollars unless Var. under Dom. sells pretty well in the States, & this will largely depend on Messrs Appleton selling it at a low price.2

With respect to Insectivorous Plants, I am unwilling that it shd be stereotyped at once: I have never done that until my books have been published for some years, so that I have profitted by criticisms & new facts. I know that many men are working at the subject both in England & on the Continent & therefore I think it wd be better to wait for a few years, & then if there is a demand for it to correct the book thoroughly & finally & stereotype it.3

I suppose the 3000 copies cannot possibly have been sold, but if nearly so, & you think there will be any more sale, have 250 or 500 more printed off; & for this contingency I enclose 2 errata.4

I should like to hear what you decide on this head—

My dear Sir | yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

LS(A)

1
Stereotypes had been made of Climbing plants 2d ed., and were to be made for Variation 2d ed. (see letters from R. F. Cooke, 25 October 1875 and 16 November 1875).
2
Variation 2d ed. was to be published in the US by D. Appleton & Co. (see letter from D. Appleton & Co, 11 October 1875). Cooke had proposed a price of 18s. for the London edition (see letter from R. F. Cooke, 25 October 1875). The two hundred dollars might have been a portion of the costs for purchasing the printing plates from Orange Judd & Co, the publisher of the first US edition of Variation (see letter from D. Appleton & Co., 11 October 1875, and Correspondence vol. 24, letter from D. Appleton & Co., 18 February 1876).
3
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 16 November 1875 and n. 2. A second edition of Insectivorous plants was published in 1888, edited by Francis Darwin.
4
A fourth thousand of Insectivorous plants was printed in 1876 (see Freeman 1977, p 149). The enclosed errata slip has not been found. According to Freeman 1977, p. 149, the fourth printing carried the same errata slip as the third.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.4 both … Continent] interl in CD’s hand
2.6 & finally] interl in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-10263,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-10263