Ɛpsilon

To John Murray   7 June [1860]1

Down Bromley Kent

June 7th

My dear Sir

Will you be so kind at your convenience to tell me how the “Origin” goes off.2 & whether it is likely there will be wanted soon, ever, or never another Edition. I want to know partly out of curiosity, & partly, as I am come to a break in my present work, because it will decide what my next job shall be.—3

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | C. Darwin

1
The year is given by CD’s reference to coming ‘to a break’ in his work (see n. 3, below).
2
The second edition of Origin, issued on 7 January 1860, had a print-run of 3000. A note on the letter, probably written by one of Murray’s clerks, reads ‘1000 on hand’. There was no further issue or reprint of Origin until April 1861, when the third edition was published (Freeman 1977, p. 78).
3
On 10 June 1860, CD recorded in his ‘Journal’ (Appendix II): ‘Finished 2d Ch. on Pigeons. arranged papers for next Ch. & Experiments.’ He was preparing the first part of his longer work on natural selection, ultimately published as Variation.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-2824,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-2824