From R. F. Cooke   16 November 1871

50a, Albemarle Street, London, W.

Nov. 16 1871

My dear Sir

We sold nearly 600 copies of the “Descent of Man” at our Trade Sale on Friday last & we have in stock about 120.

The type is standing & we propose to work off 750 or 1000, as you think best. Perhaps the latter No wd. be desirable, as it wd. give you more time to correct the work.

After this reprint I think we must allow Clowes to distribute the type & as we cannot expect the edition to go off rapidly Mr. Murray proposes to defer payment to you until the expenses of the work have been defrayed.1

I hope you are in good health now | Yours very faithfully | Robt. Cooke

We sold also

65 Animals & Plants

&

160 Voyage2

Chas. Darwin Esq

1
William Clowes & Sons were the printers of Descent. John Murray was CD’s publisher and Cooke’s senior partner in the business.
2
Cooke refers to Variation and Journal of researches 2d ed. The latter had been reprinted by Murray a number of times, most recently in 1870 (Freeman 1977).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8071,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8071