From John Lubbock   22 and 26 March 1865

Chiselhirst

22 Mar./65

My dear Mr. Darwin

The rest of the books which you were kind enough to lend me are now on their way to Down.1 I have kept them an unconscionable time, & it was very ungrateful of me not to have written to thank you. I was however really about to do so.

I shall be at High Elms2 on Sunday & will try to see you. I should much like to do so, it seems an age since we have met. I am very glad to hear you are better.

My father is I fear far from well.3

The book is at length very nearly done.4 The M.M.S. is all gone to the Printer. How about yours?5

Believe me, dear Mr Darwin, | Yours affec | John Lubbock

C Darwin Esq | FRS etc— High Elms 26 Mar. 65 My dear Mr. Darwin

The preceding note speaks for itself. I stupidly omitted to post it & only found it yesterday. You must have thought me most uncourteous.

I came up to Down this morning & hoped to have seen you, but was very sorry to hear from Parslow that you were unwell again6

Yours affec | John Lubbock

C Darwin Esq

1
Lubbock may refer to the first and third volumes of the Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s ships Adventure and Beagle (Narrative); volume 1 covered the first expedition, from 1826 to 1830, and volume 3 was CD’s Journal and remarks, which was also published separately as Journal of researches. Lubbock had borrowed these in September 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 12, letter from John Lubbock, 2 September 1864 and n. 1).
2
High Elms, the home of John William Lubbock, John Lubbock’s father, was about a mile and a half from Down House.
3
John William Lubbock died on 20 June 1865, having suffered from ‘gout and general debility’ since 1860 (DNB).
4
Lubbock 1865, which had been in preparation since the end of 1863, was published in May (Publishers’ Circular 28: 264, 284). See also Correspondence vol. 12, letter to John Lubbock, [1 January 1864] and n. 5, and letter from John Lubbock, 10 January 1864 and n. 4. There is an annotated copy of Lubbock 1865 in the Darwin Library–CUL (see Marginalia 1: 512–13).
5
The reference is to Variation; CD had been revising the early chapters since mid-November 1864 (see Correspondence vol. 12, Appendix II, and this volume, Appendix II). See also letter to Charles Lyell, 22 January [1865] and n. 17.
6
Joseph Parslow was the Darwins’ butler. For CD’s health in early 1865, see the letter to J. D. Hooker, 16 [March 1865] and n. 5.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4791,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4791