WCP4104

Letter (WCP4104.4099)

[1]1

The Dell, Grays, Essex.

Wednesday Morn[in]g [19 Nov. 1873]2

Dear Darwin

Yours just received. Pray act exactly as if nothing had been said to me on the subject.3 I do not particularly wish for the work, as besides being, as you say, tedious work, it involves a considerable amount of responsibility. Still I am prepared to do any literary work of the kind, as I told Bates4 some time ago, & that is the reason he wrote to me about it.5 I certainly think however that it would [2] be in many ways more satisfactory to you if your son did it, & I therefore hope he may undertake it.

Should he however, for any reasons, be unable, I am at your service as a derniere [sic] ressort6 —

In case my meaning is not quite clear, I will say positively, I will not do it, unless your son has the offer & declines it.

Believe me Dear Darwin | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace [signature]

1
Page 1 is numbered 117 in the upper right-hand corner of page 1 by the repository.
2
See note 3.
3
See WCP4092.4039 and WCP4093.4040, CD to ARW, 17 and [18] Nov. 1873, on producing a second edition of Darwin, Charles. The Descent of Man and Selection in relation to Sex. (First published in 1871. 2 vols. London: John Murray).
4
Bates, Henry Walter (1825-1892). British naturalist, explorer and close friend of ARW.
5
Letter from Bates to ARW not found. See ARW to H. W. Bates, 14 Nov. 1873; enclosure to Bates to CD, 15 Nov. 1873. Darwin Correspondence Project, letter no. 9144. <https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-9144.xml> [accessed on 22 Oct. 2019].
6
Dernier ressort: last resort (French).

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Letter (WCP4104.4099)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lord, Annette [2012-10-01] Transcription checked by Lucas, Paula [2019-12-20]

Transcription (WCP4104.4454)

[1]1

To C.Darwin.) The Dell, Grays, Essex. Wednesday morning. (1873)2

Dear Darwin Yours just received. Pray act exactly as if nothing had been said to me on the subject. I do not particularly wish for the work, as besides being, as you say, tedious work, it involves a considerable amount of responsibility. Still I am prepared to do any literary work of the kind, as I told Bates3 some time ago, & that is the reason he wrote to me about it. I certainly think however that it would be in many ways more satisfactory to you if your son did it, & I therefore hope he may undertake it.

Should he however, for any reasons, be unable, I am at your service as a derniére ressort [French: last resort] —

In case my meaning is not quite clear, I will not do it, unless your son has the offer & declines it.

Believe me Dear Darwin Yours very faithfully | Alfred R. Wallace.

1
A page number with strikethrough "(1)" is given at the top centre of page 1.
2
The year is hand-written in pencil while the rest of the text is type-written.
3
Bates, Henry Walter (1825-1892). British naturalist, explorer and close friend of ARW.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP4104.4454)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Lo, Yen-Nyuk [2019-12-17]

Transcription (WCP4104.4485)

[1]

To C.Darwin.) The Dell, Grays, Essex. Wednesday morning.

Dear Darwin

Yours just recieved. Pray act exactly as if nothing had been said to me on the subject. I do not particularly wish for the work, as besides being, as you say, tedious work, it involves a considerable amount of responsibility. Still I am prepared to do any literary work of the kind, as I told Bates1 some time ago, & that is the reason he wrote to me about it. I certainly think however that it would be in many ways more satisfactory to you if your son2 did it, & I therefore hope he may undertake it.

Should he however, for any reasons, be unable, I am at your service as a derniére ressort[sic]—

In case my meaning is not quite clear, I will not do it, unless your son has the offer & declines it.

Believe me | Dear Darwin | Yours very faithfully | Alfred R.Wallace. [signature]

1
Henry Walter Bates (1825-1892); accompanied Wallace to the Rainforests of the Amazon (Wallace returned in 1852, but was shipwrecked and lost his entire collection). Staunch supporter of the theory of evolution by natural selection, and gave the first scientific account of mimicry in the animal kingdom.
2
Most likely Francis Darwin (1848-1925), who helped edit many of Darwin’s correspondence letters.

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Transcription (WCP4104.4485)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Campbell, John [2012-08-17] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15]

Published letter (WCP4104.6058)

[1] [p. 281]

Dear Darwin1, — Yours just recieved. Pray act exactly as if nothing had been said to me on the subject. I do not particularly wish for the work, as, besides being as2 [2] [p. 282] you say, tedious work, it involves a considerable amount of responsibility. Still, I am prepared to do any literacy work of the kind, as I told Bates some time ago, and that is the reasonhe wrote me about it. I certainly think, however, that it would be in many ways more satisfactory to you if your son did it, and I therefore hope he may undertake it.

Should he, however, for any reasons, be unable, I am at your service as a dernier ressort.

In case my meaning is not quite clear, I will not do it unless your son has the offer and declines it.—- Believe me, dear Darwin, yours very faithfully,

ALFRED R. WALLACE.

1
Darwin, Charles Robert (1809-1882). British naturalist, geologist and author, notably of On the Origin of Species (1859).
2
At the bottom of p. 281, there are the following 3 footnotes:

Editorial information

Status: Draft transcription [Published letter (WCP4104.6058)]

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

Revision history

Transcribed by Sherwood, Danni [2020-06-09] Transcription checked by Siewert, Betsy [2020-10-30]

Please cite as “WCP4104,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 18 September 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4104