To John Murray   12 April 1874

My dear Sir

I am much obliged to you for considering so carefully my book.¹ The more I think of the subject the more inclined I am for a cheap Edition. I have compared Lyell’s Manual² & the Origin & I see that the type & spaces between the lines are the same, excepting that the letters are thicker in the Manual, & this I think a very great advantage. Could you afford to have the spaces between the lines a little wider than in the Manual; & if so I should be perfectly contented; & so would M^rs. Darwin which is a much more serious concern! I suppose it would not do to have the pages in double column, as by this plan almost any type is legible. Pray let me hear what you ultimately advise. I imagine that it will prove impossible to have the whole in one volume

Yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

P.S. Do you know Routledge’s edit. of Motley’s Dutch Republic in double columns?³ The type is smaller than in the Origin, & yet all here declare that it can be read with ease. My son⁴ has calculated that 50 pages additional to both vols of the Descent w^d require only 450 pages of Motley; so that I imagine the Descent might be printed in the same type with Lyell’s Manual & all w^d go in 550 pages if printed like Motley. I can see no real objection to a scientific book being in double columns—⁵

Nevertheless 2 vols is in some respects an advantage, & I sh^d be quite contented to see my book in the same type as Lyell’s Manuals & in 2 vols; but if you c^d afford a little wider space between the lines it w^d be very advantageous.