From Mary Somerville   30 October 1866

La Spezia Piemonte

30th Octr 1866

Dear Mr Darwin

I beg of you to accept my very sincere thanks for your kindness in granting me permission to make use of the illustrations in your admirable work on the Orchids,1 which I have taken the liberty to refer to very extensively in a sketch on the present state of microscopic science which I have just finished2

Believe me | very gratefully yours | Mary Somerville

1
Somerville refers to Orchids. In a letter to M. E. Lyell, [19? October 1866], CD had indicated his approval of Somerville’s request, but pointed out that permission to use the illustrations had to be obtained from the publisher John Murray, who owned the woodcuts.
2
The reference is to Somerville 1869 (see letter to M. E. Lyell, [19? October 1866] and n. 2).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5259,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5259