WCP1913

Letter (WCP1913.1803)

[1]1

Down.

Bromley.

Kent. S.E.

Jan[.] 22nd [1869]2

My dear Wallace

Your intended dedication pleases me much & I look at it as a great honour & this is nothing more than the truth.3 I am glad to hear for Lyell's4 sake & on general grounds that you are going to write in the Quarterly.5 Some little time ago I was actually wishing that you wrote in the [2] Quarterly, as I knew that you occasionally contributed to periodicals, & I thought that your articles would thus be more widely read.

Thank you for telling me about the Guardian6 which I will borrow from Lyell. I did note the article in the Q. Journal of Science & put it aside to read again with the articles [3] in Frazer [sic] & the Spectator.7

I have been interrupted in my regular work in preparing a new edit of the Origin,8 which has cost me much labour & which I hope I have considerably improved in two or three important points. I always thought individual differences more important than single variations, but now I have come to the conclusion that they are of paramount [4] importance, & in this I believe I agree with you. Fleming Jenkyn's [sic]9 arguments have convinced me.

I heartily congratulate you on your new book being so nearly finished10 be [sic]

Believe me, | My dear Wallace | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin [signature]

1
Page 1 is numbered 165 by the repository. Every second subsequent page has a consecutive handwritten number written in the upper right-hand corner of the page.
2
Dated by the Darwin Correspondent Project. "1869" is written after "Jan 22nd" in faint red pencil in an unknown hand.
3
See WCP1912.4078, ARW to Darwin, 20 Jan.1869.
4
Lyell, Charles (1797-1875). British lawyer and geologist.
5
Anon. [Wallace, A. R.] 1869. Geological climates and the origin of species. [Review of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, 10th edition, and Elements of Geology, 6th edition.] The Quarterly Review 126: 359-394.
6
The Guardian was a weekly Anglican Church newspaper published from 1846 until 1951. See note 3 above.
7
A recent issue of Fraser's Magazine for Town and Country had included an article, responded to by a writer in The Quarterly Journal of Science, on natural selection in man. See note 3 above. An article was also published in The Spectator (Anon. Natural and Supernatural Selection, The Spectator, 3 October 1868, pp. 1154-1155.)
8
Darwin, C. R. 1869. The Origin of Species by means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. Fifth edition. London: John Murray.
9
Jenkin, Henry Charles Fleeming (1833-1885). Scottish-born British engineer. [Fleeming Jenkin], 1867. [Review of] "The origin of species". The North British Review, June 1867, 4: 277-318.
10
Wallace, A.R. 1869. The Malay Archipelago: The Land of the Orang-utan and the Bird of Paradise. A Narrative of Travel, with Studies of Man and Nature. 1st ed. 2 vols. London: Macmillan and Co. See note 3 above.

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP1913.1803)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Darwin Correspondence Project [2012-11-19] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2019-12-20]

Published letter (WCP1913.6000)

[1] [p. 233]

Down, Bromley, Kent, S.E. January 22, 1869,

My dear Wallace, — Your intended dedication pleases me much and I look at it as a great honour, and this is nothing more than the truth. I am glad to hear, for Lyell's sake and on general grounds, that you are going to write in the Quarterly. Some little time ago I was actually wishing that you wrote in the Quarterly, as I knew that you occasionally contributed to periodicals, and I thought that your articles would thus be more widely read.

Thank you for telling me about the Guardian, which I will borrow from Lyell. I did note the article in the Quarterly Journal of Science and put it aside to read again with the articles in Fraser and the Spectator.

I have been interrupted in my regular work in preparing a new edition1 of the "Origin," which has cost me much labour, and which I hope I have considerably improved in two or three important points. I always thought individual differences more important than single variations, but now I have come to the conclusion that they are of paramount importance, and in this I believe I agree with you. Fleeming Jenkin's arguments have convinced me.2

I heartily congratulate you on your new book being so nearly finished. — Believe me, my dear Wallace, yours very sincerely, CH. DARWIN.

1
A footnote here reads: "The fifth."
2
A footnote here reads: "Explained in letter of February 2, 1869. See p. 234."

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP1913.6000)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Congerton, John [2019-12-17]

Please cite as “WCP1913,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 7 June 2023, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP1913