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To J. C. Lyell   25 February 1882

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

Feb. 25th 1882

Dear Sir

I find that the Translation of Musari is not in the Catalogue of my Library.1 Nor can I find it in the shelves where it was likely to stand. If my memory does not deceive me it was in loose sheets, & I know not where to look for them in my larger Library, so I cannot comply with your request.2

Dear Sir | yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
CD had received a translation of a Persian work on pigeons by Sayzid Mohammed Musari in 1858 (see Correspondence vol. 7, letter to Walter Elliot, 12 December [1858]). The work was translated by Walter Elliot, but the original text was subsequently lost in transit from India to England (see J. C. Lyell 1887, p. 404). CD had cited Elliot’s private translation in Variation 1: 141 and n. 10.
2
No letter from Lyell requesting the translation has been found. The translation has not been found in the Darwin Library–CUL or the Darwin Library–Down.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 (Railway … S.E.R.)] parentheses added
1.3 in my larger Library, 1.4] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-13709F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-13709F