From R. F. Cooke   27 July 1872

50, Albemarle St. London | W.

July 27. 1872

My dear Sir

By the enclosed note as well as from a call we have received from Dr. W. Kowalevsky, I suppose you have been in communication with your foreign translators respecting your new work.1

I have also seen Mr McLeod of the Heliotype company.2 You must kindly let us know your wishes, respecting all these.

I told Mr McLeod, to certainly print off 1500 sets of the plates to begin our edition with. But he wishes to know how many will be wanted for America & the Continent.!!!?

Let us know, if we are to order sets of the Electros from the woodcuts (Clowes) & how many.3

Again as to proofsheets who is to have them & how soon? We shall not publish I presume before our Annual Trade Sale (Nov?) & we must bind the translators down not to publish before hand.

I suppose you are at home & I hope in good health. Mr Murray is in Scotland.

Yours faithfully | Robt. Cooke

Chas. Darwin Esq

1
The enclosure has not been found. Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky, who was translating Descent into Russian, was spending a couple of months in London (see letter from V. O. Kovalevsky, [after 8 June 1872]). CD’s new work was Expression. CD had already been in touch with the German translator (see letter from J. V. Carus, 14 July 1872 and n. 1).
2
The Heliotype Company had three premises in London: 22 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden; 219 Regent Street; and 6 and 7 Lincoln Terrace, Kilburn (Post Office London directory 1872). Mr McLeod has not been further identified.
3
In order to reproduce the woodcuts made for Expression, William Clowes and sons printed from electrotypes. Electrotypes were produced by the electrolytic deposition of copper on the woodblocks; the copper moulds were then removed and reinforced from behind with lead, leaving the original woodcuts intact. (Twyman 1998, pp. 54–5.)

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8430,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8430