Ɛpsilon

To R. F. Cooke   17 June [1874]1

Down, | Beckenham, Kent.

June 17th

My dear Sir

I really feel unable to express any opinion how many copies of the Descent had better be struck off; & I can only hope that 2000 wd. be safe.— From what you say the price cannot be under 12s & I am sorry for it.2 You will not be put to much expence for corrections, for as yet I have not had a single sheet revised, & the corrections have been few & slight in the first proofs.— Mr Murray asked me to keep the proofs & send them to him, as a check to the Mess Clowes; but this has been impossible, as I have had only first proofs & these are of course returned to Printers.—3 The Printing gets on slowly, & I have not yet done more than 14r of vol.; & it will now be rather slower as I must send proofs to Germany where my son is going for health sake, & he looks them over before I do.—4

I heartily hope our new Edit. may be fairly successful.— I am sure that it is a much improved book.—

My dear Sir | Yours sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Please send copy of my Orchis book5 to

Mrs. Litchfield6

2. Bryanston St

Portman Sqre—

1
The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from R. F. Cooke, 16 June 1874.
2
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 16 June 1874. For CD’s concerns over the production of a cheap edition of Descent 2d ed., see the letter to R. F. Cooke, 10 April [1874], and the letter to John Murray, 12 April 1874.
3
William Clowes & Sons were the printers used by CD’s publisher, John Murray. The first revise of Descent 2d ed., date-stamped 24 September 1874 by Clowes, is in DAR 213: 3.
4
George Howard Darwin was checking the proofs for the second edition of Descent; he left for the continent on 18 June 1874 (letter from G. H. Darwin, 30 May 1874; Emma Darwin’s diary (DAR 242)).
5
Orchids.
6
Henrietta Emma Litchfield was CD’s eldest daughter.

Manuscript Alterations and Comments

1.7 returned] above del ‘sent’

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9496,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9496