Ɛpsilon

From J. V. Carus   27 October 1874

Leipzig,

Oct 27th. 1874.

My dear Sir,

It is a long time since you sent me the last proof sheets. I got them up to p. 528. Although I do not want them in this very moment, yet I should like very much to see how many there will be. We publish the new edition, just as the two first, in two volumes.1 And as there are some large additions in the first part, it might perhaps be more convenient, to take the XIth chapter over into the 2. Volume in order to make the two volumes more equal, perhaps it will be necessary, on the contrary, to take the XIIth. chapter into the first volume. As far as I see, there are still six sheets to come (of 24 pages each) exclusively of the Index. If I am right in this, and you allow three sheets to the Index, then the Chapter XII. must form a part of the first Volume2

Although I am fully aware that I have only seen the proofs, yet I may be allowed to point out some misprints, which might perhaps still be mended

p 160. note 25. Archives de Zool expér. 1872 instead of 1827.

p. 196. note 64 Variation etc. p. 336, 337, instead of 226, 227.

p 203. note 76. les plis postérieurs, instead of plus, aussi la vertèbre occipitale, instead of ainsi, and the quotation at the end: tab. IV, instead of Vol. IV.

note 77 (the quotation of M. Alix):— Mém. de la Soc. d Anthr de Paris, 1868. p. XXXII, instead of pl.3

How is Drosera and the Effects of Interbreeding?4 As soon as I have done the new edition of the Descent I shall begin the Journal of Researches. Is there any later edition than that of 1860?5

Believe me | Ever yours truly, | J. Victor Carus

CD annotations

5.1 les plis] ‘les’ del pencil below interl pencil ‘[First] line’, above pencil ‘For’, before interl pencil ‘read plus’
5.1 instead] after interl pencil illeg
5.2 Vol. IV.] ‘last line of vol Index’ pencil
Top of letter: ‘Last page of *Ch XXI [above del ‘text’] p. 619—of Index 688 | as far as I remember very few additions in the last part’ ink
1
Carus was translating the second edition of Descent into German (Carus trans. 1875a; see also letter from J. V. Carus, 7 July 1874). Descent 2d ed. was published as a single volume but the German translation appeared in two volumes. There were already two German editions of Descent, so this was the third German edition (see letter from J. V. Carus, 19 January 1874 and n. 1).
2
In Carus trans. 1875a, the twelfth chapter was in the second volume.
3
These corrections were not made to the first printing of Descent 2d ed. but they were added to later printings. Carus refers to Edmond Alix.
4
CD had told Carus he was preparing his manuscript of Insectivorous plants (published in 1875), and planned to work next on Cross and self fertilisation (published in 1876; see letter to J. V. Carus, 19 March [1874]).
5
Carus was planning to translate the latest edition of Journal of researches into German as part of a collected edition of CD’s works. Journal of researches, published by E. Schweizerbart’sche Verlagshandlung in 1875, was the first volume of CD’s collected works in German (Freeman 1977; see also letter from J. V. Carus, 15 March 1874).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9700,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9700