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To J. C. Lyell   25 April 1881

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

April 25th 1881

Private

Dear Sir

I am obliged for the kind gift of your Pigeon book.1 I am so much engaged at present that I cannot find time to read it, & the subject has to a large extent passed out of my mind.2 As no man ought to express an opinion on a book without carefully studying it, I must decline to permit my name to be used in any3

⁠⟨⁠about 12 a page⁠⟩⁠ fair one of ⁠⟨⁠12 line⁠⟩⁠ characters of the breeds; & I have been struck with the fulness & accuracy of the literary record.—4 I hope at some future time to be able to read your book with some care.—

I remain | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
Lyell had sent his manual on the varieties, breeding, and management of fancy pigeons (J. C. Lyell 1881). Lyell’s book is in the Darwin Library–Down.
2
In 1855 and 1856, CD had bred fancy pigeons and attended pigeon fanciers’ clubs (J. A. Secord 1981; Correspondence vols. 5 and 6). He discussed domestic pigeons in the first chapter of Origin, and also used observations on fancy pigeons to illustrate points about natural selection, variation, and embryology. CD included two chapters on the development of fancy pigeons in Variation 1: 131–224.
3
The letter from Lyell asking whether he could use CD’s name has not been found.
4
Lyell devoted a chapter to ‘the literature of fancy pigeons’ (J. C. Lyell 1881, pp. 8–22).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13138F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13138F