To Swale and Wilson1   [on or before 24 October 1849]2

Down

Dear Sir

Will you please to send to address on other page by next Wednesday night, diag —— Footprints of a Creator (by H. Miller)3

—— Humboldts letters of a Statesman translated recently4

—— Six cards of “Patent Parryian National Pen Nor 3.: Fine Points”5 ramme

NB please attend that this kind be sent.

And a packet of 100 of Newspaper covers;6 I think patented by Delafield—viz a strip of paper with a tape let in.—

Yours faithfully | C. Darwin C. Darwin Ese care of G. Snow Nag’s Head Borough.

N.B. Carrier goes on Thursday morning

1
The conjectured recipients, Swale and Wilson of 21 Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, were publishers, general stationers, and news-vendors (Post Office London directory 1849). CD’s Account Book (Down House MS) shows payments for newspapers and books to this bookseller.
2
Dated from the reference to Hugh Miller’s book (Miller 1849) and from the letter to M. E. Lyell, [24 October 1849], in which CD stated he had just ordered a copy of the work for himself.
3
Miller 1849. CD recorded having read it on 21 November 1849 (DAR 119; Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV). His unannotated copy is in the Darwin Library–Down.
4
K. W. von Humboldt 1849. CD did not record reading this work until 20 April 1852, when he noted: ‘William Humboldts letters, partly read.’ (DAR 128; Correspondence vol. 4, Appendix IV).
5
A sprung-steel nib that slipped onto a wooden shaft, patented in 1830 by James Perry, a bookseller and stationer in Red Lion Yard, London.
6
Wrappers used for forwarding newspapers and magazines through the post.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

3.1 Newspaper] after del illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1263,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1263