Ɛpsilon

To E. B. Aveling   11 August [1881]1

[Down.]

My dear Sir—

I thank you for your courteous note & for the present of your work received this morning.—2 I shall be glad to read it, as it is always interesting to an author to see how his assertions strike any [fresh] & vigorous mind. Nor do I at all dislike persons differing from me, or extending their views to a greater length than seems to me safe.— I have read your Introduction & see that you compliment me, to a much higher degree than, as I believe, I deserve.—3

yours faithfully | C. D.—

Aug. 11. Dr Aveling

ADraftS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from E. B. Aveling, 9 August 1881.
2
See letter from E. B. Aveling, 9 August 1881. CD’s copy of The student’s Darwin (Aveling 1881) is in the Darwin Library–Down.
3
Aveling praised CD as a man of genius and the ‘first among scientific men in England’ (Aveling 1881, pp. viii-ix).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.1 courteous] after del ‘very’
1.1 for the] interl; ‘the’ after del ‘your’
1.1 work] after del ‘book’
1.3 dislike persons] above del ‘object to anyone’
1.4 from me] interl
1.4 or] after del ‘in their [added] judgment from me’
1.4 extending] after del caret
1.4 their] after del illeg, above del illeg
1.5 safe] above del ‘fair or advisable’
1.5 see] after del ‘it’
1.5 compliment] above del ‘honour’
1.5 to] over ‘in’
1.5 much] interl
1.6 as I] after del ‘I’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13287,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13287