To Smith, Elder & Co   17 December [1873]¹

Dear Sir

During the several years my friends have occasionally tried in vain to procure a copy of my work on Coral Reef;² & the other day my son³ was in Macmillan shop in Cambridge⁴ & the foreman said he had inserted for 3 years advertisements, sent to all parts of England & the continent for a copy, & had only just received one from Berlin. He suggested that the book ought to be republished, & this leads me to ask you whether you are inclined to do so. I think if printed (except the appendix) in rather better type & style, it w^d sell immediately; but I had better say at once that I am so much engaged that I cannot undertake correcting the proofs.—⁵ Possibly I could add a few notes.— If you are not inclined to run the risk, will you let me have at a moderate price the 3 copper plates, & wood-blocks if the latter have been preserved. In this case I w^d try to persuade M^r Murray⁶ to publish a new Ed. sharing any profit with him if there sh^d be any; but I cannot say that I have much hope of success. Yet as I regret that the book cannot be procured by the public, I w^d make the attempt

Begging for an answer, I am, | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | C. Darwin