Ɛpsilon

To Mr Folthorp of Smith, Elder & Co.   [6 February 1840]1

12 Upper Gower St

Dear Sir

Being unwell yesterday, I did not read your note.— But I will make up for lost time as quickly as I can, by at once sending off the M.S.—2 Please not to let it go from you.—till you hear or see me— The enclosed will serve as a specimen.— I wish to know the cost per thousand, words —I providing Paper.—3

Yours truly | Chas. Darwin

1
Date inserted by Folthorp.
2
Possibly the manuscript of a part of the Zoology or of Coral reefs, which CD had been writing since October 1838, with many interruptions due to ill health.
3
On the recto of this letter is noted ‘Pages 1 to 40 given to Mr Herring’ and on the verso ‘Darwin with MS to copy’. CD’s Account Book (Down House MS) has an entry on 19 February 1840: ‘Mr Herring Poetry 2/6’. No other payment is listed in later entries, which suggests that the copyist was paid by Smith, Elder & Co., the publishers of the Zoology and Coral reefs.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.2 Dear] over illeg
1.4 cost] after del ‘price’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-553,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-553