Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   29 July 1881

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

July 29th 1881

My dear Sir

I am as much surprised as you can be, for I thought that you understood that I wished to publish at once.1 As you have the risk of the volume I must yield to your remonstrances; but it destroys all my satisfaction in the book, as I hate to have the publication hanging over me, for until published I cannot banish the subject from my mind. Well, let it be as you wish. You had better return me the list of copies for distribution as it may be lost amidst of all your papers.2 I suppose I shall feel less sulky in a day or two.—

My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S | Please tell Mr. Clowes that I hope he will send me the 3 sets of clean sheets as soon as a few sheets are printed off.3 I will write to Translators that the book will not be out for some months.—

They have been bothering me to begin their work.—4

1
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 28 July 1881. Cooke had asked CD to postpone publication of Earthworms until October. See also letter to R. F. Cooke, 10 April 1881.
2
For CD’s presentation list for Earthworms, see Appendix IV.
3
William Clowes & Sons were printers to John Murray, CD’s publisher.
4
Julius Victor Carus made the German translation of Earthworms (see letter from J. V. Carus, 24 June 1881). No correspondence has been found with the French translator, Edmond Perrier.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

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

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13256,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13256