Ɛpsilon

To Gustav von Leonhard1   20 March [1847]

Down Farnborough | Kent

March 20th

Dear & much respected Sir.

I cannot resist writing to thank you for your kindness in sending me a copy of your review2 of my Volcanic Islands, & for the very great honour which you have done me in your manner of speaking of it.— It is no small satisfaction to me, to reflect that my small work has been thought worthy of careful perusal by a name, which I have for so many years known & honoured.

I have taken the liberty to direct my publishers to transmit to you a copy of my S. American volume and I trust you will accept it as a trifling acknowledgment on my part of your kindness.3

With my most sincere respect, I beg, dear Sir, to remain | Your faithful & obliged sevt. | Charles Darwin

1
The recipient is identified by the cover which is addressed to ‘Dr. Gustav Leonhard | der Universitat | Heidelberg | Germany’. However, it was Karl Cäsar von Leonhard, Gustav von Leonhard’s father, who was professor of mineralogy at Heidelburg University at this time. Gustav von Leonhard did not become extraordinary professor of mineralogy until 1853. The tone of CD’s letter suggests that he thought he was writing to the elder Leonhard.
2
Leonhard’s review has not been located.
3
There is a review of South America in Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geognosie, Geologie und Petrefakten-Kunde (1847): 509, which was edited by Karl Cäsar von Leonhard and Heinrich Georg Bronn.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 no] ‘n’ over illeg
1.4 perusal] ‘u’ over ‘s’
2.1 to you] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1072,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1072