Ɛpsilon

To Alphonse de Candolle   11 November [1859]

Down Bromley Kent [Ilkley]

Nov. 11th.

Dear Sir

I have thought that you would permit me to send you (by Messrs Williams & Norgate Booksellers) a copy of my work (as yet only an abstract) on the Origin of Species. I wish to do this, as the only though quite inadequate manner by which I can testify to you, the extreme interest which I have felt, & the great advantage, which I have derived, from studying your grand & noble work on Geographical Distribution.1 Should you be induced to read my volume, I venture to remark that it will be intelligible only by reading the whole straight through, as it is very much condensed. It would be a high gratification to me, if any portion interested you.— But I am perfectly well aware, that you will entirely disagree with the conclusion, at which I have arrived.

You will probably have quite forgotten me; but many years ago you did me the honour of dining at my house in London to meet M. & Mad. Sismondi,—the uncle & aunt of my wife.—2

With sincere respect, I beg leave to remain— | Yours very faithfully | Charles Darwin

1
A. de Candolle 1855. For CD’s comments on this work, see Correspondence vol. 5. CD’s annotated copy is in the Darwin Library–CUL.
2
The dinner took place in 1839 in CD’s home in Gower Street, London (see Correspondence vol. 2, letter to Alphonse de Candolle, 25 May [1839]). The guests included Jean Charles Léonard Simonde de Sismondi, his wife Jessie (Emma Darwin’s aunt), and John Stevens Henslow.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2523,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2523