From John Murray   18 March [1871]1

50, Albemarle St. | W.

Mar 18

My Dear Sir

The second Edition of your “Descent”—is published this day. It consists of 2000 copies—2

I shall be happy to give you for it Eight Hundred Guineas—of wch 200 Gs payable at once by cheque & 600 by note of hand at six months from this date—3 Please let me know if this proposal is satisfactory to you—

I conclude you have seen Wallace’s review in Academy4

I remain My Dear Sir | your obliged & faithful | John Murray

Chas Darwin Esqr

CD annotations

Top of letter: ‘£14.70 [‘£’ above ‘14.70’]5 | (Non-conform & other Papers from Catholic Pap—Tablet) | Back’ pencil
1
The year is established by the reference to the second printing of Descent, which was made in March 1871, and the review in the Academy (see n. 4, below).
2
Murray refers to the second printing of Descent (see Freeman 1977); the second edition was not published until 1874.
3
CD’s Account books–banking account (Down House MS), records the receipt of £210 from Murray on 21 March 1871 and of £630 on 18 September 1871.
4
Murray refers to Alfred Russel Wallace and his review of Descent (Wallace 1871a).
5
CD evidently calculated the total sum he had made on Descent to this point; that is, £1470. CD had received £630 for the first printing of Descent (CD’s Account books–banking account (Down House MS)).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7597,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7597