Ɛpsilon

To Edwin Lankester, Ray Society   19 July [1851]

Down Farnborough | Kent

July 19th.—

My dear Sir

I find that I require 4 woodcuts, two very simple, one moderately so, & one slightly complex;1 I hope there will be no objection to allowing me these. There is no time to lose, as they come in my introduction.— can you authorise me having them made?— Mr. Sowerby will make the little drawings for them; shall he order them to be cut, or shall I send the drawings to to you.— Will you kindly send me a line in answer by return of a Post: or two.— I shall send all M.S. (& I have added considerably to quantity, in accordance with a wish expressed by you.) to you by last day of this month. I shall send it by my own servant, as I have no copy, & I shd. greatly prefer if you would permit him to take it on to Mess. Adlard,2 & then I shall be assured of its safety.— Will you, therefore, kindly tell me how long it must be left with you for your inspection, before my servant can take it to Mess. Adlard.— You will have, I think, only to settle size of type: I will send as good materials as I can, for you to judge in how many pages it will print of size & type used by Dr. Baird—3

Forgive this trouble & begging for an early answer. | Believe me | My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

1
Only three woodcuts occur on the illustration opposite page 3 in the introduction to Living Cirripedia (1851). One of them, Fig. I, is identical to that of the ‘Capitulum’ in Fossil Cirripedia (1851): 9, which CD had asked to borrow in letter to J. S. Bowerbank, Palaeontographical Society, 7 July [1851]. Fig. II is of the scutum of Lepas, and Fig. III is of the tergum of the same genus.
2
Charles and James Adlard, 2212 Bartholomew Close, London (Post Office London directory 1851), were printers to the Ray Society.
3
Baird 1850 contained 364 pages and was also published by the Ray Society. CD had previously estimated the length of his monograph against this work (see Correspondence vol. 4, letter to Edwin Lankester, 7 November [1850]).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 authorise] after del ‘ath’
1.4 made?] ‘?’ over full stop
1.5 the drawings to] above del ‘them’
1.6 a Post:] ‘a’ interl
1.11 my servant can take it to] interl
1.11 Mess.] before omitted point

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-1443,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-1443