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From Asa Gray   [after 17 September 1867]1

Dear Darwin

I have said yes to this reminder of an old promise.—2 But I shd like to have time to turn over the pages & ponder upon them, and perhaps to exchange thoughts with you, before I attempt a review of your opus. 3 By 1st of Oct, we have an inter-national book post, and you could, perhaps, send me sheets somewhat in advance.4

A. Gray

Footnotes

1
The date is established by the date of the letter to Gray written on the same sheet of paper as this letter (see n. 2, below).
2
Gray’s letter was written on the blank pages of the folded sheet of a letter to him from Edwin Lawrence Godkin, dated 17 September 1867. The letter text follows: My dear Sir, Two years ago or more when the Nation was first started—you promised me that when Darwin’s new book appeared, you would write us a notice of it. I see it is announced now. I write to ask whether convenience & inclination will allow you to take it up for the Nation. I remain, dear Sir, | Very faithfully yours | E L Godkin Variation had been advertised as forthcoming as early as April 1865 (see Correspondence vol. 13, letter to John Murray, 31 March [1865] and n. 2). The Nation was a weekly newspaper published in New York, and first appeared on 6 July 1865 (ANB s.v. Godkin, Edwin Lawrence).
3
Gray’s review of Variation appeared in the 19 March 1868 issue of the Nation ([A. Gray] 1868).
4
No details of the proposed international book post have been found; for more information on the history of US postal rates, see Jane Kennedy 1957.

Bibliography

ANB: American national biography. Edited by John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes. 24 vols. and supplement. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1999–2002.

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

[Gray, Asa.] 1868. [Review of Variation.] Nation 6 (19 March 1868): 234–6.

Kennedy, Jane. 1957. Development of postal rates: 1845–1955. Land Economics 33: 93–112.

Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.

Summary

AG has promised to review CD’s new book [Variation] for the Nation [forwards a letter from E. L. Godkin of the Nation to this effect] and wonders if he might have sheets a little in advance.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5636
From
Asa Gray
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
unstated
Postmark
London OC 12 67
Source of text
DAR 165: 158
Physical description
ALS 1p, encl ALS 2pp † (by CD)

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5636,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5636.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15

letter

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