To F. M. Balfour 6 July 1881
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | (Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.)
July 6th 1881
My dear Balfour
I thank you heartily for the present of your grand book, & I congratulate you on its completion. Although I read almost all of Vol. I I do not feel that I am worthy of your present, unless indeed the fullest conviction that it is a memorable work, makes me worthy of receiving it.—1
But now I am puzzled what to do; I have received Vol. 2o from my booksellers, who sent me Vol. I, & it seems to me a downright sin that there should be two copies in my house, whilst there are so many men (or Libraries) who would be delighted by receiving a copy from you & who would profit by it. Therefore shall I not send the clean copy back to you, or despatch it myself with a slip in your hand-writing “From the Author” to any quarter which you may direct? Once again accept my thanks, for I am proud to receive a book from you who I well know will some day be the chief of the English Biologists
Believe me yours very sincerely | Charles Darwin
P.S. An idea has just occurred to me & I am going to be so impudent as to suggest it,—viz to send my spare copy to Fritz Müller of Blumenau St Catharina, Brazil. He is poor & has lately lost almost all his books by a dreadful flood, & he is as you know an embryologist. He seems to me a splendid observer & I shd be delighted to be the means of his receiving from you a valuable book.2
Footnotes
Bibliography
Balfour, Francis Maitland. 1880–1. A treatise on comparative embryology. 2 vols. London: Macmillan & Co.
Summary
Comments on FMB’s book [Treatise on comparative embryology, 2 vols. (1880–1)]. Had already purchased copy. Could second copy be sent to someone else? Fritz Müller?
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-13235
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Maitland Balfour
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Natural History Museum, Library and Archives (L DC AL 1/21)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 13235,” accessed on 29 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-13235.xml