From H. W. Bates   15 November 1873

1, Savile Row, | Burlington Gardens, | W.

Nov 15 1873

My dear Mr Darwin

Enclosed is Wallace’s reply.1 You will perceive that he is at present unaware of the scope & nature of the revision required, & I should think they ought to be very exactly defined if he is employed; otherwise he would be likely to query the reasoning.

Yours sincerely | H W Bates

[Enclosure]

The Dell, Grays, Essex.

Novr. 14th. 1873

Dear Bates

Thanks for your note. I shall be glad to undertake the revision of Darwin’s Descent of Man—always supposing Mr Darwin likes me to do it, & also that it is well paid for, as it will be a stiff job.

I shall be very glad to see & review Belt’s Book.2

In haste | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace

1
CD had evidently asked Bates to write to Alfred Russel Wallace to enquire whether he was willing to revise Descent for a second edition.
2
Wallace’s review of Thomas Belt’s The naturalist in Nicaragua (Belt 1874) appeared in Nature, 22 January 1874, pp. 218–21.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9144,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9144