From John Murray   24 February [1866]1

50, Albemarle St. | W.

Feby 24

My Dear Sir

I have despatched by Book post today a copy of the “Origin” in sheets for correction2   The printer will guarantee a correct reprint of all that you send to press unaltered & will send you proofs of sheets in wch you make corrections—3

I shall be happy to pay you two thirds of the profits of the Edition as soon as one half of the copies are sold—as you suggest4

I can see no objection to your employing Mr Sowerby to draw the bones & heads for your book on Domesticated animals.5 I wd stipulate that after he has seen all that you require, he shd send me in writing his estimate of the cost of drawing the 32 or 33 subjects—& a statement of the time within wch he will undertake to draw them—6

I have no doubt this work will be as interesting to the Public as it has been to you

I remain | My Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | John Murray

I have still near 600 copies of the Book on Orchids on hand—but the deficiency on it has been reduced to £30.—7

Charles Darwin Esqr

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866].
2
In order to make revisions and corrections for the fourth edition, CD had requested a clean copy of Origin (see letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866]).
4
See letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866]. Murray made a copy of this sentence that survives in the Murray Archives (see Calendar no. 5017a).
5
Murray refers to George Brettingham Sowerby Jr and Variation. See letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866] and nn. 13 and 14.
6
CD had raised the question of fixing a price with Sowerby in his letter to Murray of 22 February [1866]. Sowerby had nearly completed his illustrations for Variation in October 1866 (see letter to G. B. Sowerby Jr, 19 October [1866]).
7
There is a statement of Murray’s account for Orchids in DAR 171.3: 524–5, annotated by CD: ‘Feb— 27— 1866. Still about 600 copies on Hand & 30£ deficient.—’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5417,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5417