Ɛpsilon

To Oswald Heer?1   20 April [1861?]2

Down. | Bromley. | Kent. S.E.

April 20th

Respected Sir

I am extremely much obliged for the honour & kindness which you have done me by sending your “Untersuchungen &c”.—3 The subject has always seemed to me a most interesting & important one; & I hope soon to read your valuable Memoir.

With my most sincere thanks I have the honour to remain | Your obliged & obedt servant | Charles Darwin

1
The recipient of the letter is conjectured on the basis of CD’s having received a presentation copy of Heer’s Untersuchungen, published in 1860 (see n. 3, below).
2
The year is suggested by the stationery with the printed address ‘Down Bromley Kent SE’; CD’s first firmly dated use of this stationery occurs in letters of early May 1861 (see letter to T. C. Eyton, 3 May [1861]). CD used this stationery until 1869, although he sometimes wrote on plain paper giving his address as ‘Down, Bromley, Kent’ or simply ‘Down’.
3
CD’s presentation copy of Heer 1860 is in the Darwin Library–CUL. It is annotated and has an abstract in CD’s hand pinned on the inside of the back cover (see Marginalia).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.3 interesting] after del illeg

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2765,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2765