Ɛpsilon

To Robert Fitch   11 November [1850]

Down Farnborough Kent

Nov. 11th.—

My dear Sir

I am very much obliged for your kind note. By the same Post, there came in answer to my letter of complaint to Mr Sowerby one of 5 Plates perfect, full of drawings of your specimens.— He assures me he will make as much progress as possible & that one chief cause of the delay has been that his house has been pulled down in the Botanic Gardens.—

I will again write to him & tell him that you will very soon demand back your specimens whether finished or not.— Mr. S. is by no means the only Engraver employed by the Pal. Soc.— I did not know how dreadfully dilatory he was, when I picked him out as most capable of doing the work well.—1

I thank you much for the present of the pamphlet;2 I wish that I was more worthy to receive it—

Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

I beg to thank you most particularly for your further offer of more specimens, but I really stand in no need of any others.—

1
CD employed George Brettingham Sowerby Jr, nephew of James de Carle Sowerby, to do the drawings for the remaining volumes of the Cirripedia monograph, Living Cirripedia (1851), Living Cirripedia (1854), Fossil Cirripedia (1854).
2
Possibly Fitch 1847, published by the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, of which Fitch was an active member.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 perfect,] comma over full stop

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1369,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1369