To Ernst Krause   4 November 1879

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

Nov 4. 1879

My dear Sir,

I think Herr Alberts has treated me very unfairly. I informed either you or him of the price of the photographs. Mr Murray was unwilling to give the order without prepayment, & I therefore took the responsibility on myself.1 Herr Alberts now writes without any apology that he does not want the copies.2 Mr Murray has written to the Photograph Company to stop the printing, but fears it is too late.3 If by good fortune the English edition should sell well we may perhaps be able to use any copies that have been struck off by having them cut down to the size of my volume. I am quite sure that you have taken no part in this proceeding, & that you will think it fair that I should deduct the cost of the useless photographs from the profit of the book which is to be transmitted to you.

I decline to hold any future communication with Herr Alberts, & if he wants cliches of the two wood cuts Mr Murray will certainly require prepayment.4

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Charles Darwin

Karl Alberts was the director of Ernst Günther, the firm publishing the German edition of Erasmus Darwin; the English edition was published by John Murray. CD had written to Alberts about the cost of reproducing the frontispiece, a photograph of an engraving of a painting of Erasmus Darwin by Joseph Wright (see letter to Karl Alberts, 8 October 1879).
Alberts’s letter to CD has not been found; see, however, the letter from Ernst Krause, 6 November 1879.
The Autotype Company of London printed the frontispiece (see letter to Ernst Krause, 14 March 1879, n. 6).
In addition to the frontispiece, Erasmus Darwin contained woodcuts of Elston Hall, p. 3, and Breadsall Priory, p. 125.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.5 to stop the printing,] interl in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12291,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12291