To R. F. Cooke   10 February [1871]1

Down, Beckenham, Kent. S.E

Feb. 10th.

My dear Sir

I find Mr. Blyth is recovered so please add his name and address as on next page to list of presentation copies.2

If you wish to ease Review-copy—strike out Gardener’s Chronicle, for it is out of the line of Editor, but you will know best.3

The Index is absurdly long, yet excellently good; it might however have been shorter; but it is my fault owing to my instructions: I am quite vexed at its length. Mr. Dallas would be grateful for early payment, as I hear from him.4

Thank all the powers above and below the Book is wholly out of my hands.

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

“E. Blyth, Esq. 12, Fitz Roy Road, Regents Park”— Nota Bene, if not there, please send book “to care of Editor of Field, Strand.”5

Copy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to R. F. Cooke, 30 January [1871].
2
CD had understood Edward Blyth to be insane (see letter to R. F. Cooke, 30 January [1871] and n. 4). CD refers to presentation copies of Descent (see Correspondence vol. 19, Appendix IV).
3
Cooke had sent CD a list of periodicals to which he proposed to send review copies of Descent (letter from R. F. Cooke, 13 January 1871). The editor of Gardeners’ Chronicle was Maxwell Tylden Masters.
4
Cooke had enquired about the probable length of the index to Descent in his letter of 11 January 1871. The letter from William Sweetland Dallas, the indexer, has not been found.
5
Blyth wrote for the Field under the pseudonym Zoophilus (ODNB). The editor of the Field was John Henry Walsh (ODNB).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7480,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7480