Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   7 December [1872]1

Down, Beckenham, Kent

Dec. 7th.

My dear Sir

I have no more errata, so print off what you think fit.2 If in a year’s time, or so, a new edit. is required, I would then thoroughly revise it.3 I was to have started for London to-day, but have been prevented by being too unwell: I hope, however, to see you next week.4 One of my sons saw a copy of “Expressions” the other day with very poor Heliotypes. Would it not be well to caution the Coy that they will lose credit if they distribute poor copies?5

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin.

P.S Would it be worth while as a puff to give on Title, the last Thousandth?? Do as you think fit.6

Copy

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from R. F. Cooke, 6 December 1872.
2
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 6 December 1872. Evidently CD had already sent Cooke the corrections to errors pointed out by Julius Victor Carus (see letters from J. V. Carus, 7 October 1872 and n. 6, 11 October 1872 and n. 1, and 24 October 1872, nn. 7 and 10); these corrections appear in the second printing of Expression, pp. 121, 184, 243, 245, and 285.
3
Expression 2d ed. was not published until 1890, after CD’s death. It included material collected by CD as well as information added by Francis Darwin, who edited the work (Expression 2d ed., p. iii).
4
In the event, CD’s visit took place between 17 and 22 or 23 December (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
5
Just days before the publication of Expression the Heliotype Company had supplied only 3000 of the required 7000 sets of heliotypes (see letter from R. F. Cooke, 20 November 1872). The last 4000 sets presumably were of poorer quality as CD had feared (see letter to R. F. Cooke, 20 November [1872]).
6
The number of copies published was not added to the title page of the second issue of Expression. To puff: to promote or publicise in a laudatory or extravagant way (OED).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-8663,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-8663