WCP3418

Letter (WCP3418.3386)

[1]1

Broadstone, Wimborne.

March 26th. 1908

Messrs. Macmillan & Co. 2

Dear Sirs

Please advise on a technical point of type.

I proposed to print all the specially botanical portions — whether in Letter or Journals — in smaller type, so that they might be skipped by the general reader.

The first of these (Letters to John Smith) occurs on Slip 105, & the printers asked whether it shd. not be in ordinary type — to which I agreed, as it seemed not exclusively botanical & short.

But it seems to me that [2] there is not a sufficient difference between the two types to catch the eye, & to show the purpose.

I think either a smaller type or closer lines shd. be used — the latter would do.

Failing this alteration it would I think th be necessary to put — "From here to p. — is chiefly Botanical" — at the beginning of each such passage, which I would rather avoid. Please [3] look at the matter, & instruct the printer to do what you think best —

I think closer lines will answer the purpose best, & also save bulk.

Yours very truly | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Oval ink stamp, “G.B.M” and date stamped “27 MAR 1908”.
Macmillan, Frederick Orridge (1851-1936). Eldest son of Daniel Macmillan, a founding partner in the bookselling and publishing firm of Macmillan & Co.

Please cite as “WCP3418,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP3418