To John Murray   16 October [1866]1

Down Bromley | Kent

Oct 16th.

My dear Sir

I have heard the wood cutter has sent in his account to you & I now enclose Mr. Luke Wells’ account for drawing the same & will tell him to call for the amount.2

But as you have not agreed to publish my work until seeing the M.S. would you not prefer my sending you a cheque for the amount & likewise for the second set of engravings now being made by Mr. Sowerby.3 Pray do as you like.

I trust I shall begin printing in the beginning of next year but I cannot say quite positively— Please to read over the second page of the enclosed note from Professor Asa Gray & then tear it up; twice over he has urged the same plan & be so good as to consider it & act as you think fit.4 I may repeat what I said before that I have not the least idea whether my new book will get many readers; all that I can say in its favour is that I am sure that some of the chapters contain very curious matter.5

My dear Sir | yours sincerely | Charles Darwin

LS

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, 15 October 1866.
2
The reference is to the wood-engraving firm of Butterworth and Heath. See letter from W. B. Tegetmeier, 15 October 1866 and nn. 1 and 2.
3
George Brettingham Sowerby Jr had made illustrations for some of CD’s other works (see Correspondence vols. 5 and 9). For CD’s interest in having Sowerby contribute illustrations to Variation, see the letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866] and n. 14.
4
CD enclosed the letter from Asa Gray, 18 July 1866; Gray had suggested that John Murray should supply the American market with copies of the fourth edition of Origin. See also the letter from Asa Gray, 10 October 1866.
5
The first printing of the first edition of Variation sold out in a week (letter to Alphonse de Candolle, 6 July 1868 (Calendar no. 6269); also printed in LL 3: 99–100).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5245,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5245