Ɛpsilon

To ?   10 July [1872–3]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

July 10

Dear Sir

I have much pleasure in informing you that the work you refer to was published, under the following title. “The structure & distribution of Coral Reefs 1842, Smith, Elder & Co London.”—2 I am not sure whether it is now sold separately or only bound up with two other little geological Treatises, also published by the same Firm.—3

Pray do not think about the postage, as I have pleasure in answering your query.—

Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Ch. Darwin

1
The year range is established by the headed notepaper, which is of a sort that CD used between 1872 and 1874, and by the fact that CD does not mention the second edition of Coral reefs, which appeared in May or June 1874 (Correspondence vol. 22, letter from G. H. Darwin, 30 May 1874).
2
Coral reefs.
3
Volcanic islands (published in 1844) and South America (published in 1846) were reissued by Smith, Elder with Coral reefs in a single volume in 1851 (Geology of the ‘Beagle’).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8404F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8404F