Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   31 July 1881

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

July 31. 1881

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged to Mr. Murray & you for your kindness; but I am now uneasy about your risk, & if Mr. Murray really thinks that a scientific work would sell considerably worse at this season than late in the autumn, I shd. be very unwilling to take the responsibility on my own shoulders.—1 I do not forget that the risk is yours. Pray therefore decide as you think fit, & however you decide I am not the less obliged to Mr Murray for his prompt yielding to my desire.—

If the book is to be published as soon as possible, you must inform Mssrs Clowes, for I told them, when I returned the index, finally corrected, that there was now no hurry, as the time of publication was altered.2

My dear Sir | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

You will see that I am not so sulky as I was when I wrote last.

P.S. I shall be in London on Thursday morning & will endeavour to call on you.—3

1
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 30 July 1881. John Murray wanted to delay publishing Earthworms until October.
2
CD’s letter to William Clowes & Sons has not been found.
3
CD was in London from Wednesday 3 to Monday 8 August (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

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

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13265,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13265