Ɛpsilon

To Wallis Nash   27 March 1878

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

March. 27 1878

My dear Mr. Nash

I consider your wish to dedicate your book to me a great compliment.1 It gives me, also, sincere pleasure, for no one has ever come to live near Down, whom we have liked & respected in at all the same degree as we do from our hearts Mrs Nash & yourself.— As I said yesterday to Mrs. Nash, your change of residence is an irreparable loss to our village.2

With good wishes for the success of your book, & congratulations that the chief labour is over, I remain | My dear Mr. Nash | Yours ever very sincerely | Charles Darwin

1
Oregon: there and back in 1877 (Nash 1878) was dedicated to CD as follows: ‘To Charles Darwin in token of a friendship wherein his gentle courtesy has almost induced forgetfulness of his greatness, this book is, by his permission, dedicated.’
2
Louisa A’hmuty Nash. The Nashes had resided at the Rookery in Down; they moved to the neighbouring village of Beckenham before emigrating to Oregon in 1879 (see letter to Wallis Nash, 29 May 1878, and K. G. V. Smith and Dimick 1976, pp. 78–9).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11450A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11450A