To B. W. Richardson   14 March 1879

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

Mar 14. 79

My dear Sir,

Several years ago you told me that you had thought of writing a life of Eras Darwin.1 An interesting sketch of his life by E. Krause had just appeared in ‘Kosmos’; & the author tells me that he means to enlarge it a little & publish it separately.2 He wants more materials, & if you have any which are useless to yourself, do you feel inclined to lend them to me for Krause’s use?

I am more especially interested on this head, because my brother & I intend to have a translation published.3

Pray forgive me for troubling you & believe me | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

1
No letter from Richardson mentioning a plan to write a biography of Erasmus Darwin has been found.
2
See letter from Ernst Krause, 12 March 1879; Krause’s sketch of the life of Erasmus Darwin had appeared in Kosmos in February 1879 (Krause 1879a).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-11934,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-11934