Ɛpsilon

To Hurst & Blackett   15 November [1863]1

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

Nov 15

Gentlemen

I see that Miss Meteyard is preparing a life of my grandfather Josiah Wedgwood.2 I have in my possession a good many letters to him from Dr Erasmus Darwin (also my grandfather) & if they would be likely to give any information, I shall be glad to send them to Miss Meteyard or to you.3

They are chiefly on semi-scientific subjects & probably would only be useful as shewing what subjects were occupying Mr Wedgwood’s mind & the dates of them.

Perhaps you will forward this to Miss Meteyard

I am Gentleman | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

LS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to J. D. Hooker, [22–3 November 1863] (Correspondence vol. 11).
2
The novelist and journalist Eliza Meteyard had been researching the life of Josiah Wedgwood I since the 1850s (see Meteyard 1970, introduction, and B. Wedgwood and Wedgwood 1980, p. 271). The first volume of her Life of Josiah Wedgwood (Meteyard 1865–6) was published by Hurst and Blackett in April 1865. It is not known how CD learned that the book was in preparation.
3
In the first volume of her biography, Meteyard acknowledges the receipt of letters sent to her by CD (see Meteyard 1865–6, 1: xv, 436). The letters between Josiah Wedgwood and Erasmus Darwin are in DAR 227.1.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4672,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4672