Ɛpsilon

To Charles Layton   26 November [1869]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Nov. 26

Dear Sir

The last or 5th. Edit. of the Origin was printed off some months ago & it is impossible to supply stereotypes.—2 I hope that you will inform Mssrs Appleton of what I have said of the increased size &c of this last & 5th. Edit. As 2000 copies of this Edit were printed, there will not be a new Edit. for a considerable time. I am not at all surprised at the sale having been slack of the old Edit. with all its imperfections3

If Mssrs. Appleton will reprint this 5th edition, of the Origin I will pledge myself to endeavour to persuade Mr Murray to supply stereotype Plates of my new Book on the Descent of Man;; but as I never before heard of such a scheme, I have no idea whether he will comply.— In any case I will pledge myself, on the above conditions & on the terms suggested in your letter, to send over the sheets as printed & stereotype casts of the woodcuts. But please remember my new book will not go to press for many months.4

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from Charles Layton, 25 November 1869 (Correspondence vol. 17).
2
Layton had asked for stereotypes of Origin 5th ed. for a new US edition; Origin 5th ed. was published in late June (Correspondence vol. 17, letter from R. F. Cooke, 22 June 1869).
3
See Correspondence vol. 17, letter to Charles Layton, 24 June [1869]. On additions to Origin 5th ed., see ibid., Introduction, pp. xv–xvii. The second US edition of Origin was published in 1870; the first had been published in 1860.
4
Descent was published in 1871; the text of the US edition was not printed from stereotypes (Freeman 1977).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] interl before del ‘Bromley.’
1.1 or 5th.] interl
1.4 Edit.] above del ‘one’
1.5 with] after del ‘of’
2.1 of the Origin] interl
2.2 of my … Man; 2.3] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7012F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7012F