Ɛpsilon

From Karl Beger   [c. 12 February 1879]1

Hamburg ⁠⟨⁠    ⁠⟩⁠

Dear Sir,

My wife and I, beg to present you our very best wishes for your birthday, and hope that it may return always in health and happiness. Enclosed the photograph of our little Darwin.2

He is now two years old, and a very good, intelligent, and thoroughly healthy child. He speaks already and takes his meals without help.

In the upper chaw he has got 5. cutting-teeth instead of 4., but they stand regularly and ar⁠⟨⁠e⁠⟩⁠ as nice and good as could be⁠⟨⁠.⁠⟩⁠

Dear Sir, | Your most obedient servant | F. T. C. Beger & wife

Charles Darwin, Esqre. M.A. F.R.S. | Down,

1
The date is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Karl Beger, [12 February 1877] (Correspondence vol. 25).
2
Beger’s wife, Emma Friedrike Caroline Dalchow Beger, had given birth to a son on 11 February 1877; the couple named him Darwin Richard Beger after CD (see Correspondence vol. 25, letter from Karl Beger, [12 February 1877]). CD’s 70th birthday was on 12 February 1879. The photograph has not been found.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11854,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11854