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To John Murray   [10 April 1845]1

Down Bromley Kent

Dear Sir

I feel as certain as I can about anything, which has passed some years since, that I never signed any paper of any kind whatever with Mr Colburn: I am almost sure it wd have impressed itself on my memory, had I done so. Indeed, I shd assuredly have made a copy, as I did of the Agreement between Capt F & Mr Colburn, which Capt F. made without any consultation with me.

I enclose my rough copy, which please to preserve;2 I wd have made a better copy, but I am compelled to leave home for the day immediately.

I hope your negotiation will be successful & believe me dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin

P.S. | In case you shd come into any terms with Mr C. he will perhaps have forgotten, that he let the Editor of the German Edition3 have the loan of the Copper plate & one or two of the woodcuts— these have not been yet returned owing to the carelessness of Viewig of Brunswick, but I have no reason to doubt that they are safe, & that I shall soon have them.—

1
Dated by CD’s reference to a trip away from Down and by an entry in CD’s Account Book (Down House MS) recording that he paid for a trip to London on 10 April 1845. This was the only trip recorded between the dates of letters to John Murray, [5 April 1845] and 12 April [1845].
2
It seems that CD now sent his original copy of the agreement between Robert FitzRoy and Henry Colburn, after having first sent a transcript to Murray in his letter of 20 March [1845]. For the text of the agreement see letter to John Murray, 20 March [1845].

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.1 have] interl
4.3 one or] interl

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-855,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-855