To R. F. Cooke   4 October [1879]1

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

Oct 4th

My dear Sir

My preliminary notice has long been corrected & ready for press; & Mr Dallas has long had first proofs of Krause’s part, but there has been delay about the latter as K. was away from home & Mr Dallas wanted him to read over the Translation. I heard, however, this morning from Krause that he has returned proofs to Mr. D. who will now merely have to look at Revises.2

Title-Page & Preface all complete.— The Autotype Portrait is all ready to be printed off.—3 Really my opinion is worth nothing, but if I had published the book on commission, I shd have printed off only 1000 copies.—4 I am very glad that type will be kept up. Will you kindly give order for stereotype plates of type & 2 woodcuts for Mess Appleton of New York. They will arrange about the Portrait—5

With respect to advertisement, it does not agree with Title, but it is perhaps better, as giving better notion of what the little book is; but you must decide whether it is too great a departure from Title: I give Title on Back6

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Erasmus Darwin

by

Ernest Krause

translated by W. D. Dallas

with a preliminary Notice

by

Charles Darwin

To Krause’s part there is a fly-title

The Scientific Works

of

Erasmus Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Ernst Krause, 2 October 1879.
2
See letter from Ernst Krause, 2 October 1879 and nn. 2 and 3. CD had asked William Sweetland Dallas to translate an updated version of a German essay on Erasmus Darwin by Ernst Krause that was first published in Kosmos (Krause 1879a); the revised essay was published together with CD’s preliminary notice under the title Erasmus Darwin.
3
The Autotype Company produced a photograph of a portrait of Erasmus Darwin for the frontispiece (letter to John Murray, 4 September 1879 and n. 6).
4
Cooke’s letter giving this information has not been found. John Murray and CD had agreed to publish the book at Murray’s risk (letter from R. F. Cooke, 6 September 1879, and letter to R. F. Cooke, 9 September 1879). Evidently Cooke had suggested 1000 copies and this was the number printed (letter to R. F. Cooke, 18 November [1879]).
5
D. Appleton & Co. published the US edition of Erasmus Darwin in 1880. The woodcuts were of Elston Hall and Breadsall Priory (Erasmus Darwin, pp. 3, 125).
6
The advertisement has not been found in the Darwin Archive–CUL. In the Publishers’ Circular, 16 October 1879, p. 878, the book was advertised as ‘A sketch of the life of Erasmus Darwin. By Charles Darwin, F.R.S. With a study of his scientific works by Ernst Krause. Translated by W. S. Dallas.’

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 & … press;] interl
1.4 , however,] interl
2.1 Autotype] interl
2.2 had published] above del ‘printed’
3.1 but it] ‘it’ interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12247,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12247