From V. O. Kovalevsky   24 April [1867]1

S Petersburg

12/24 April.2

Dear Sir

I received to day Your letter of 20 Apr. in answer to my writing of Ap. 2, and am happy to inform You, that I find the price at £10 a very reasonable one and beg Mr. Murray to make a set of stereotypes for me and to deliver them, on payement, to Mr. Trüebner 60. Paternoster Row, who is my commissione for English Books, and will forward the stereotypes to me.3 Demanding You, dear Sir, a free pardon for my importunity I shall entreat You, in case Mr. Murray intends to set the whole I volume in type, before going to print, to send me duplicates of the last corrected proofs (Abdrücke der letzten correcturen).— The extreme kindness You showed me, make me bold even to ask You such a condesention, because as I shall receive stereotypes ready made, the last proof sheets will do as well as clean printed ones.

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | W. Kowalevsky

P.S. Beeing a sportsman, I killed last week a very fine big black Russian bear; will You allow me to send the skin, made in form of a carpet with the heaad whole and paws, as a present and a natural specimen to You. You shall make me very happy in accepting the offer.

CD annotations4

Top of letter: ‘viâ France or Belgium’ ink
1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from V. O. Kovalevsky, 2 April 1867.
2
Kovalevsky gives both the Julian (12 April) and Gregorian (24 April) calendar dates.
3
In his letter of 2 April 1867, Kovalevsky had asked permission to approach CD’s publisher, John Murray, to ask for stereotypes of the illustrations to Variation, which Kovalevsky was planning to translate into Russian. CD’s letter of 20 April has not been found. Kovalevsky also refers to Nicholas Trübner, a bookseller in Paternoster Row, London.
4
CD’s annotation is a note for his letter to Kovalevsky of 2 May [1867].

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-5513,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-5513