Ɛpsilon

From R. F. Cooke   12 February 1872

50A, Albemarle Street, London, W.

Feby. 12 1872

My dear Sir

By post you will receive the 1st. copy of the new edition of the “Origin”, which we hope you will like the appearance of.1

The expenses of this reprint have far exceeded the calculations made when the subject was put in hand. The printer says it was nearly all rewritten & his charges are as if the work was all in M.S.2

The consequence is that when the whole edition (3000 No.) are sold retail at 6/– it will only yield a profit of £100;

The Students edition of Lyell’s Geology is pubd. at 9/0– & therefore Mr. Murray proposes to fix the retail price of yours at 7/6 which he thinks will be a very cheap volume indeed.3

We wait yr reply. | Yrs very faithfully | Robt. Cooke

Chas. Darwin Esq

1
The type-size used in Origin 6th ed. was smaller than for previous editions, in line with CD’s wish to make a cheap edition (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter to John Murray, 23 April [1871]).
2
CD had added a new chapter, ‘Miscellaneous objections to the theory of natural selection’ to Origin 6th ed. (Origin 6th ed., pp. 168–204); it included material that had been in several different places in earlier editions, as well as much new content.
3
John Murray had suggested a price of 7s. 6d. for a cheap edition comparable to Charles Lyell’s The student’s elements of geology (C. Lyell 1871), but CD had hoped for an even lower price (see Correspondence vol. 19, letter from John Murray, 31 May [1871], and letter to John Murray, 3 June [1871]).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8209,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8209