Ɛpsilon

From A. R. Wallace   6 December 1874

The Dell, Grays, Essex

Decr. 6th. 1874

Dear Darwin

Many thanks for your kindness in sending me a copy of your new Edition of the “Descent”.1 I see you have made a whole host of additions & corrections which I shall have great pleasure in reading over as soon as I have got rid of my horrid book on Geog. Distn.2 which is almost driving me mad with the amount of drudgery required and the often unsatisfactory nature of the result. However I must finish with it soon, or all the parts first done will have to be done over again, every new book either as a monograph, or a classification putting everything wrong (for me.)

Hoping you are in good health & able to go on with your favourite work | I remain | Yours very sincerely | Alfred R. Wallace

Charles Darwin Esq.

1
Wallace’s name appears on CD’s presentation list for the second edition of Descent (see Appendix IV).
2
In his Geographical distribution of animals (Wallace 1876, p. vi) Wallace said he had been working on the book since about 1870 (see ibid., p. vi).

Please cite as “DCP-LETT-9744,” in Ɛpsilon: The Charles Darwin Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/dcp-data/letters/DCP-LETT-9744