Ɛpsilon

To J. V. Carus   5 October [1870]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Oct. 5th

My dear Sir

We have all been deeply interested by your letter, just received, & sympathise with every word which you say.2 I am astonished & pleased to hear that you are prepared to begin translating & the publisher to publish.—3

I have corrected 208 pages in second Proofs, but no sheets have yet been struck off: I have written again to day for clean sheets of even 2 or 3 first sheets to be sent on as soon as ready; but I know that they wait generally, & do not print any off, till several sheets are finally corrected.—4 As soon as I hear what Murray will charge for stereotypes of 64 wood-blocks, I will let you know: I asked him to charge only a little more than costs5   You understand that I give you the right of Translation, & you must make your own agreement with publisher.—

With the most cordial feelings | Believe me | Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S. You will be pleased to hear that Vol. I consists of only 411 pages.—6

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from J. V. Carus, 2 October 1870.
3
Carus was to translate Descent into German; the publisher of Carus trans. 1871 was E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagshandlung (see letter from J. V. Carus, 2 October 1870 and n. 4).
4
CD’s letter to William Clowes, the printer of Descent, has not been found.
6
The first volume of Descent was 423 pages long not including preliminaries (8 pages).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

0.1 Beckenham] before del ‘Bromley.’
2.1 pages] interl
2.2 first] interl
2.4 finally corrected] above del ‘ready’
2.5 I asked … costs 2.6] added

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7333,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7333