Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   12 April 1881

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

Ap. 12th 1881

My dear Sir

So let it be, as Mr Murray proposes on our old terms, & as I prefer.—1 I hope that the book may not prove a failure, but the conclusion at which I have arrived is that the sale of a book is a game of chance.—

The letter from India which you sent me by my servant was from a Hindu on Evolution, & he says that he has forwarded to me a number of a Journal with his essay & I suppose that it will be directed to you. Will you add to your many kindnesses to me, by forwarding it to me shd. it arrive, as I am rather curious to read what a Hindu has to say on the subject—2

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

1
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 11 April 1881. John Murray, CD’s publisher, had agreed to publish Earthworms on his usual terms of two-thirds profits to the author.
2
Presumably CD’s servant who carried the letter back to Down had delivered the manuscript of Earthworms to Cooke (see letter to R. F. Cooke, 10 April 1881). The letter has not been found, but the essay was probably ‘Political liberty and the best means for its attainment by the natives of India’ (‘Hindu youth’ 1878). CD’s copy, with an inscription from the ‘young Hindu’ dated 4 June 1879, is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL, with an annotation by CD that reads, ‘A Hindoo who fancies that Natural Selection will apply to nations!’

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.1 on … terms,] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13114,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13114