Ɛpsilon

To Richard Kippist1   13 February [1861?]2

Down, Kent

Feb. 13th

… “I will send tonight by our Carrier3 all the Books in Hand in an old Portmanteau (which please return) so … they will come safely.4

With sincere thanks for your vy. kind assistance. | C. Darwin”

“I suppose De Blainville’s Osteographie does not include Rabbits or Hares, as I much wish to see such if it were ever published.”5

incomplete

1
Kippist was librarian of the Linnean Society of London, from which CD often borrowed works that he needed to consult for his research.
2
The year is suggested by the 1859 watermark of the stationery and by CD’s reference to the carrier’s leaving ‘tonight’. George Snow ran a carrier service between Down and London that left Down at 2 A.M. every Thursday morning (Post Office directory of the six home counties 1862). In 1861, 13 February fell on a Wednesday. This date is further confirmed by the reference to ‘Rabbits and Hares’. In 1861, CD was preparing the chapter on variation in rabbits for Variation (see ‘Journal’; Appendix II).
3
George Snow. See n. 2, above.
4
See letter to Richard Kippist, 7 January [1861]. It is not known which books from the Linnean Society CD was returning.
5
Blainville 1839–64.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3061A,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3061A