Ɛpsilon

From R. F. Cooke   29 November 1877

50, Albemarle St. | W.

Nov. 29. 1877

My dear Sir

Although I wrote to you in the summer to ask if you had any corrections for the “Origin of Species” & said we proposed to print off 1000 No, we did not do so, as on consideration we thought it wd. be better to wait the result of our Trade Sale, as we had a certain number of copies in stock.1

Well having sold so many as 570 at the sale2 & the book keeping up its circulation so well, we think it better to print off at once 2000 rather than 1000. Of course the Title page will be altered accordingly.

As you propose to send some corrections shortly for Cross Fertilization after which we can stereotype & thus release the type—we will get Messrs. Clowes to keep up “Forms of Flowers” for the present.3

Your’s faithfully | Robt. Cooke

1
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 23 November 1877, and letter to R. F. Cooke, 24 November 1877. On 16 March 1877, Cooke had written to CD that there were 500 copies of Origin in stock, but no letter proposing a reprint of 1000 copies has been found.
2
Murray, like other publishers, held a ‘sale dinner’ in November, to which the principal booksellers were invited (J. Murray 1908–9, p. 540).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11260,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11260