To John Murray   4 April 1874

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

Ap. 4th 1874

My dear Mr Murray

I have at last finished after above 3 months as hard work as I have ever had in my life a corrected Editn of The Descent, & I much wish to have it printed off as soon as possible.1 As it is to be stereotyped I shall never touch it again.2 The corrections of the second Vol are in the hands of the copyist,3 & will be ready long before the printing of the first Vol is complete

I am sorry to say for your sake & for my own that I have found it impossible to avoid adding some 40 pages to the book. I say 40 pages at a mere guess, as the additions are written in a straggling manner,— many are in place of other sentences, & some whole pages have been struck out. The additions to the second Vol are less than a third of those to the first Vol.4 There are three new wood blocks, which I hope that you have lately received.5 Now will you be so kind as to arrange with Messrs Clowes6 of Stamford St. to begin printing at once. Shall I send in a few day’s time. registered by post the corrected sheets and MS for Vol I to you or to Messrs Clowes? I much hope that the present Edit is considerably improved.

Please let me hear from you & believe Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

LS(A)

1
CD had begun preparing Descent 2d ed. on 20 November 1873 (Correspondence vol. 21, Appendix II).
2
Stereotyping was a process in which movable type was set up and used to make a mould, which could then be used to cast a metal plate for printing.
3
CD’s copyist was Ebenezer Norman. CD’s Classed account books (Down House MS) record a payment to Norman of £7 5s. 3d. on 7 May 1874.
4
The first edition of Descent had been published in two volumes, with volume 2 containing material on sexual selection. Descent 2d ed. was published in a single volume.
5
The new illustrations for Descent 2d ed. were fig. 3, p. 17, the foetus of an orang-utan; fig. 52, p. 413, a male argus pheasant displaying before the female, and fig. 60, p. 438, the wing feather of the argus pheasant, showing the ocelli in an intermediate condition.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

2.7 of Stamford St.] interl in CD’s hand
2.7 in … time.] interl in CD’s hand

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9388,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9388