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To Smith, Elder & Co.   8 January 1874

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Jan 8. 1874

Dear Sir

I am very glad to hear that you will publish a new edition of my Coral reefs; & earnestly hope that it will not ultimately cause you loss.1

I am coming to London on Saturday to have a week’s rest, & on my return home I will immediately see what notes must be added, & also about a short preface—2

After writing to you I suddenly remembered that you had lent me the wood-block for stereotypes for my Journal, & I am glad to say that I have found them, & they shall be returned to you next week.3

Will you be so good as to return my copy of the Coral reefs to 6 Queen Anne St Cavendish Sq— & tell your porter to enquire whether it is the right house before the parcel is left, as I do not know what I shd do if the copy were lost4

Dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

LS

1
The first edition of Coral reefs was published in 1842 by Smith, Elder & Co.
2
CD was in London from 10 to 17 January 1874 (see ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)). CD’s preface to the new edition is dated February 1874 (see Coral reefs 2d ed., pp. v–ix).
3
CD refers to images that first appeared in Coral reefs, pp. 2, 3, 48, 98, 100, and were later added to Journal of researches 2d ed., pp. 466, 469, 471, 473, 474. These images appear in Coral reefs 2d ed., pp. 2, 65, 131, 133.In his letter to Smith, Elder & Co, 17 December [1873] (Correspondence vol 21), CD had asked to buy the copperplates and woodblocks if they decided not to make a new edition of Coral reefs.
4
CD had asked Joseph Dalton Hooker whether he had a copy of Coral reefs that he could use for corrections (see letter to J. D. Hooker, 8 January 1874). The London address was that of CD’s brother, Erasmus Alvey Darwin.

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9233F,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9233F