To D. F. Nevill   22 January [1862]1

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

Jan. 22d

Madam

I received the Orchids safely & the other flowers, & I ought to have thanked your Ladyship earlier for your kindness, but I happened to be much engaged & deferred writing.

with my best thanks | I beg leave to remain | Your Ladyships | Truly obliged | Charles Darwin

P.S. Since the above was written I have received your Ladyships most kind note.—2 I am infinitely obliged for all your great kindness.—

No doubt the Photograph will be sent in a few days; but assuredly it will not ornament your room.—3

1
The year is conjectured from CD’s having first written to Nevill the previous November, requesting her help in procuring orchid specimens (see Correspondence vol. 9, letters to D. F. Nevill, 12 November [1861] and 19 November [1861]).
2
CD probably refers to the second of the two letters from Nevill dated [before 22 January 1862].
3
In the first letter dated [before 22 January 1862], Nevill requested a photograph or lithograph of CD to hang in her sitting room. The photograph to which CD refers may have been one taken the previous year by his son, William Erasmus Darwin (see Correspondence vol. 9, letter to Asa Gray, 11 April [1861] and n. 19; the photograph is reproduced as the frontispiece to that volume). Since, however, it appears that CD did not send the photograph to Nevill personally, it may be that he had ordered her a copy of the photograph taken by Maull and Polyblank in about 1857 (Correspondence vol. 8, frontispiece). See also letter from E. A. Darwin, [April – May? 1862].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-3405,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-3405