To Oswald Heer   4 August [1872–4]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Aug. 4th

Dear Sir

I am much indebted to you for your great kindness in having sent me your two memoirs with their admirable engravings on the fossil Flora of Bear Isld & Spitzbergen.2 How much science owes to you!

with the most sincere respect, | Yours faithfully & obliged | Ch. Darwin

The year range is established by the printed stationery, with the address in the centre; CD used this type of notepaper from January 1872 until November 1874.
CD’s annotated copy of Heer 1870 (on the fossil flora of Bear Island) is in the Darwin Pamphlet Collection–CUL; his copy of Heer 1869 (on the Miocene flora and fauna of Spitzbergen) is in the Darwin Library–CUL.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8454,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8454