WCP4059

Letter (WCP4059.4003)

[1]

Rosehill, Dorking.

Feby. 20th. 1877

My dear Newton1

Will you oblige me by looking at the enclosed notes for an abridgement of my Geog. Dist. of Animals2,— & see if you think such a book, forming a small geo. vol. to sell at about 7/- would have a considerable sale without stopping the sale of the larger work.

It might no doubt be better to rewrite & remodel the book, but I really do not feel equal to undertaking that. But any suggestions from you, calculated to make such a book as proposed useful to [2] students of Natural History, would be attended to.

I have only received one suggestion, & that is to print the Maps & Tables separately;— but I do not think this would do, as it would certainly injure the sale of the larger book without having a very extensive sale itself.

Of course in the small book I shd. make all needful corrections & some additions where trustworthy new matter is available.

Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

Prof. Newton F.R.S.

[3] The tables & coloured maps must of course be omitted both to keep the expense down, & to make sufficiently marked difference between the cheap & the dear book.

[4]3

A.R.W.

Newton, Alfred (1829-1907). British zoologist and ornithologist. Founding member of the British Ornithologists' Union.
Wallace, A. R. 1876. The geographical distribution of animals; with a study of the relations of living and extinct faunas as elucidating the past changes of the Earth's surface. London: Macmillan & Co. Two volumes.
In Newton’s handwriting, “A. R. Wallace, Feb. 20/21/8/77. Answered Feb. 21/77. again Feb. 27/77.” Only 27 Feb letter is found. https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP2348

Please cite as “WCP4059,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 5 June 2025, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4059