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To William Clowes & Sons   6 August [1881]1

Dear Sir—

In all my previous books, I have given the contents of the Chapter in full, copied from the corrected sheets.— I have always put the pages from … to … I think, therefore, it would be best to give the Table of Contents in the same manner as before. So please send me another Proof.

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

August 6th | Down.2

This Title page seems to me too much spread out. I think there ought to be more white at top. But you will judge better than I can.

C.D.

I do not very much like its present appearance.3

1
The year is established by the publication of Earthworms in 1881 (see n. 2, below).
2
The letter from ‘Dear Sir’ to ‘Down’ is written on the verso of the title page of the proof-copy of Earthworms, facing the table of contents. In the proof-copy, the table of contents gives only the chapter titles.
3
The rest of the letter is written on the title page of the proof-copy.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Dear] after del ‘In’
1.3 as before 1.4] interl
4.1 think] after del ‘do not’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13278A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13278A