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To John Murray   [25? March 1868]1

4 Chester Place | R. Park N.W

Wednesday

My dear Sir

They are printing my Book in the U. States in such hot haste they will not wait for stereotypes of the woodcuts; but I want them to have the Reprint on account of corrections.—2 Will you therefore please send by todays Post a copy in sheets, addressed to

Prof. Asa Gray

Cambridge Massachussetts

U. States.3

See the Postage correctly paid.—

Many thanks for for several parcels & letters forwarded to me.—

I will call today or soon to speak about the little Book “Fur Darwin”—4 When I call I shd like to hear about state of sale of last Edit. of Origin & new Book.5

My dear sir | Yours very sincerely | Ch Darwin

1
The date is conjectured from the relationship between this letter and the letter to W. E. Darwin, 25 March [1868] (Correspondence vol. 16), in which CD described himself as ‘working like a slave to get corrections for an American Edit of the new Book which is printing in hottest haste’. CD stayed at 4 Chester Place, the house of Sarah Elizabeth Wedgwood, Emma Darwin’s sister, in London, from 11 March to 1 April 1868 (Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)). In 1868, 25 March was a Wednesday.
2
The US edition of Variation was published in April 1868 by Orange Judd & Co. (see Correspondence vol. 16, letter from George Thurber, 18–20 April 1868). Variation had been published by John Murray on 30 January 1868 (Freeman 1977), and a second printing, incorporating some additions and corrections, appeared in February (Freeman 1977).
3
Proof-sheets of Variation were sent to Asa Gray in advance of publication, and Gray informed CD that George Thurber of Orange Judd & Co. was keen to publish a US edition (see Correspondence vol. 16, letter from Asa Gray, 24 February 1868).
4
CD had arranged to have Fritz Müller’s book Für Darwin (Fritz Müller 1864) translated into English by William Sweetland Dallas. The translation was called Facts and arguments for Darwin (Dallas trans. 1869; see Correspondence vol. 16, letter to John Murray, 13 April [1868]).
5
The fourth edition of Origin was published in 1866 (Publishers’ circular, 1 November 1866, p. 666). Variation was published on 30 January 1868 (Freeman 1977).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 but] after del ‘will’
1.3 by the Post] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-6050F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-6050F