To John Murray   6 October [1871]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Oct 6th

My dear Mr Murray

I have 6 first Chapts. of the new Edit. of Origin ready for the printers, & I have sent M.S. of 7th. Chapt. to be copied. This 7th Chapt. contains a part of old Chapt IV, but is chiefly new.2 Whilst the copier is at work I shall make some considerable progress at remaining chapters. Now if you wish to have a Dummy copy of the Origin for your sale, I had better send the 6 first Chapters at once to Mrs Clowes, & you must give instructions about Type, the saving of space in all ways, & about setting up quickly & sending proofs to me.— I will trust to Messrs Clowes for correction & for Index except in the altered parts which are many.—

I enclose a suggested advertisement.—

More than one person & some strangers have urged me to publish a glossary of scientific terms.— I had a letter a few days ago from a stranger, an intelligent gentleman, who declared that many persons felt the want much.3 The same glossary wd. do for Origin & for any corrected Edit. of the Descent, if there ever is one.—4 I believe this latter book will hereafter rise a little in value, notwithstanding Mr. Mivart in the Quarterly.5 What do you think about such a short Glossary; if you approve, Mr Dallas of Geolog. Soc. would be an excellent man. & he could work on it from old Edit, but you must make a bargain with him.—6 I hope & think that I have considerably improved matter & style of Origin.— As the subject is by no means yet dead, we may hope for slow & steady sale.— Pray kindly reflect over this note, & let me hear.—

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Proposed Advertisement

Sixth & Cheap Edition of the Origin of Species (...... thousandth?)

With answers to the various objections recently raised against the theory of Natural Selection. (With a glossary of scientific terms??)7

by Charles Darwin F.R.S.

P.S | My health has been so bad of late, that I can never be certain of going on working. And at end of this month I must have a rest of one week.—8

1
The year is established by the reference to the sixth edition of Origin, which was published in February 1872 (Freeman 1977, p. 79).
2
Much of chapter 7 of Origin 6th ed. was devoted to CD’s replies to the criticisms of St George Jackson Mivart and others of the theory of natural selection.
3
The letter has not been found.
4
See Origin 6th ed., pp. 430–41, for the glossary. No glossary appeared in the second edition of Descent.
5
CD refers to Mivart’s anonymous review of Descent in the Quarterly Review ([Mivart] 1871c).
6
William Sweetland Dallas was the assistant secretary of the Geological Society of London; he had made the indexes for Variation and Descent (see Correspondence vols. 15, 16, 18). He compiled the glossary for Origin 6th ed. (see letter to R. F. Cooke, 13 October [1871]).
7
An advertisement appeared in Publishers’ Circular, 17 October 1871, p. 689: ‘The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. By Charles Darwin, F.R.S. Sixth and Cheaper Edition. With Answers to Objections raised against the theory of Natural Selection, and a Glossary of Scientific Terms.’
8
CD went to visit Josiah Wedgwood III and Caroline Sarah Wedgwood at Leith Hill Place, Surrey, from 3 to 10 November 1871 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.2 7th Chapt.] interl
1.5 at once] interl
1.7 & for Index 1.8] interl
3.8 a] interl
7.2 (With … terms??)] square brackets in original MS
7.2 scientific] after del ‘the’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-7988,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-7988