Ɛpsilon

To J. D. Cooper   [after 13 December 1878]1

The copy on wood is all that I can desire, but as I shd like to give a very large number of similar diagrams, I rather grudge so expensive a manner as Photographs for the more simple ones. But why Photographs shd be so expensive I cannot think

Moreover when done in this fashion my son or self wd have to make perfectly nice copies of all, & we are working so hard on experiments that we cd hardly spare the time.2 Therefore will you inform me whether you have a pantograph—or if expensive could borrow or hire one for my work, for in this case, we could soon send you a lot to copy &c &

And the more complicated diagrams & the drawing had better by copied by photography.

What is the cost of one now executed

Please answer my 2 questions, & I remain | Dear Sir | Yours f | C. D

ADraftS

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. D. Cooper, 13 December 1878.
2
See letter from J. D. Cooper, 13 December 1878 and n. 1. CD’s son Francis Darwin was his assistant. Cooper was engraving images for Movement in plants.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 as I shd] above del ‘I am rather unwilling’
1.2 rather] above del ‘shd’
1.2 as Photographs] interl
1.3 But … think] interl above del ‘Have you a pantograph or could you get one?’
2.1 when] after del ‘Ev’
2.3 if expensive 2.4] interl
2.4 or hire] interl
2.4 for] after del ‘if it is an expensive [initial]’
4.1 What] after del ‘Pl’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11792,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11792