Ɛpsilon

From W. W. Reade   31 August [1873]1

171 Stanhope St. | Euston Road | NW

Aug. 31.

My dear Sir

Very many thanks for your kind letter.2 There is no doubt that the tales were a mistake & the book is altogether too flimsy. I think I shall recompose it for a cheap edition, & merely write a narrative of my exploring journey, working in ethnological matter &c.3 However that will not be just yet   I shall have another book on Africa to write first in all probability as I am going to the Ashanti War as special correspondent for the Times, leaving Liverpool on the 12th.— They give me £50 a month & my expenses, & power to republish. I suppose I shall be back in the spring at furthest—4

I think I am now acquainted with all the Darwinian points but if there is any new line of inquiry you can suggest, pray do so, and oblige me | your faithful disciple | Winwood Reade

1
The year is established by the reference to Reade 1873 (see n. 3, below).
2
CD’s letter has not been found, but see letter from W. W. Reade, 29 August 1873.
3
CD had probably commented on Reade’s African sketch-book (W. W. Reade 1873), which was published in June 1873 (Publishers’ Circular, 17 June 1873, p. 413; see letter from W. W. Reade, 14 May 1873 and n. 9). Reade had added a number of fictional stories intended to illustrate native customs to his otherwise factual account of his own travels (see W. W. Reade 1873, p. v). A cheap, revised edition was never published.
4
Reade covered the third Anglo-Ashanti war (1873–4) in west Africa for The Times from November 1873 and fought in the battle of Amoaful in January 1874 (DNB).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9036,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9036