From Charles Kingsley   30 May 1865

Eversley Rectory, | Winchfield.

May 30/65

My dear Sir

We desire much your photograph. I say honestly, there is no living man whom I have not seen, whom I wish to see as much as I do you: & failing that, to have some Eidolon1 of you for myself & mine.

If you have any photograph of yourself—or if you can tell me where I can procure one, you will do me a real favour.

The more I think, & see, the more I find to make me thankful for your great book2

Yours faithfully | C Kingsley

1
Eidolon: image (OED).
2
Kingsley refers to Origin; CD sent a presentation copy to him in 1859 (see Correspondence vol. 8, Appendix III). Kingsley was an acquaintance of Thomas Henry Huxley and John Lubbock and took an active interest in natural history (see F. Kingsley ed. 1877, Hutchinson 1914, 1: 23, and A. Desmond 1994–7, 1: 208–9). Kingsley’s reaction to Origin was largely favourable (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 7, letter from Charles Kingsley, 18 November 1859, and Correspondence vol. 10, letter from Charles Kingsley, 31 January 1862); he believed, with Asa Gray, that natural selection and natural theology were not inconsistent with one another if one took the view that natural selection operated in accordance with divine purpose (see F. Kingsley ed. 1877, 2: 171–5, 346, and F. Kingsley ed. 1883, pp. 252–3). For a discussion of Kingsley’s views, see Colloms 1975, pp. 236, 243–4, 252, and 265–6, and A. Desmond 1994–7, 1: 263, 289.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-4843,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-4843