To Edward Walford   22 [January–April 1865?]1

Down Bromley Kent

22d

My dear Sir

I should of course be proud to be one of your Series;2 but I cannot spare a day to go to London; & I am not likely to be there soon: I may, however in course of summer, & will call on Mr. Edwards, if it be then not too late; & he can inform me.—3

My dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The date range is conjectured on the assumption that CD visited the photographer, Ernest Edwards, during his stay to London in November 1865, with a view to being included in Walford’s photographic series (see nn. 2 and 3, below), and on the basis of CD’s illness, which began at the end of April (see ‘Journal’, Appendix II).
2
Edward Walford had assumed editorial responsibilities for the series Portraits of men of eminence in literature, science, and art, with biographical memoirs, begun by Lovell Augustus Reeve (see Walford 1868 and Browne 1998, pp. 269–71). A portrait of CD taken by Edwards appeared in volume 5 of the series, published in 1866 (Reeve and Walford eds. 1863–7, 5: facing p. 49).
3
CD probably sat for Edwards during his visit to London between 8 and 20 November 1865. See letter from E. A. Darwin to Emma Darwin, 25 [November 1865] and nn. 2 and 3.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5508,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5508