Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   20 November 1880

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

Nov. 20th. 1880

My dear Sir

The copies arrived all safe last night, & I like the appearance of the volume much.—1

I wonder who in the world has been glorifying me in the Times—: it ought to sell a few more copies & then I shall not lose.—2

But my object in writing now is to thank Mr. Murray very much for his very handsome present of the three beautiful volumes, which I am extremely glad to possess. If admiration makes a man worthy of possessing St. John’s book, I am worthy of it.— My old copy is all in tatters, as I have lent it to so many persons.3 The last person was Miss Balfour(, sister of A. Balfour M.P.) & she was as enthusiastic about the book, as I could have desired—4

Believe me, my dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S Please send me here two more copies of my book for foreign Botanists

Also a copy to Sir J. Lubbock Bart. at the Bank—Lombard St5

Please send soon—

1
Movement in plants.
2
An anonymous review of Movement in plants appeared in The Times, 20 November 1880, p. 9. CD was concerned that the costs of producing the book would not be recovered by sales (see letter to R. F. Cooke, 8 November [1880] and n. 2).
3
John Murray sent three copies of a recent illustrated edition of Charles St John’s popular book, Sketches of the wild sports and natural history of the Highlands (St John 1878). CD’s copy of St John 1878 is in the Darwin Library–Down. He evidently also owned the original 1846 edition, which is cited in Expression, pp. 47–8 n. 19.
5
John Lubbock was head of the banking firm Robarts, Lubbock & Co., at 15 Lombard Street, London. For CD’s presentation list for Movement in plants, see Appendix IV.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
5.1 here] interl
6.1 Also … soon— 7.1] double scored red crayon
7.1 Please send soon—] red crayon

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-12832,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-12832