To Hermanus Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen   18 February 1874

Down, Beckenham, Kent.

Feb 18. 1874

My dear Sir

I must have the pleasure of thanking you for a copy of your translation of my Expression book—1 It is by far the most beautiful edition which has been any where published. I see that there are some notes by yourself at the end, & these I will have translated by one of my sons who is as good a linguist as I am a bad one.2

You formerly sent me some corrections & additions to my Descent of Man; & I have found these extremely useful in now preparing a new & corrected edition.3 But I have been overwhelmed with additional matter, & have not been able to use all the facts which have been communicated to me.

With many thanks & good wishes I remain | my dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

P.S. I have only just observed that apparently M. Ykema has been so kind as to send me the copy & may I trouble you to return him my sincere thanks, adding how much I admire the execution of the work—4

photocopy of LS(A)

1
Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen had translated Expression into Dutch (Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen trans. 1873). CD’s copy is in the Darwin Library–Down.
2
George Howard Darwin was a good linguist (ODNB).
3
See Correspondence vol. 19, letter from Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen, 7 April 1871. Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen had translated Descent into Dutch (Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen trans. 1871–2). The second edition of Descent was published in November 1874 (letter from R. F. Cooke, 12 November 1874).
4
Johan IJkema was Hartogh Heijs van Zouteveen’s publisher.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.2 now] interl in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9321,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9321