Darwin Correspondence Project

 

Quick search Advanced search...
Letter icon
Letter 5417

Murray, John (b) to Darwin, C. R.

24 Feb [1866]

    Summary Add

  • +

    Sends sheets of Origin [4th edition] for CD to correct [for 3d German edition?].

  • +

    Still has 600 copies of Orchids, but deficit reduced to £30.

  • +

    Undertakes to pay two-thirds of profits of the [fourth] edition of Origin as soon as one-half of the copies are sold.

Transcription

50, Albemarle St. | W.

Feby 24

My Dear Sir

I have despatched by Book post today a copy of the ``Origin'' in sheets for correction   The printer will guarantee a correct reprint of all that you send to press unaltered & will send you proofs of sheets in wch you make corrections—

I shall be happy to pay you two thirds of the profits of the Edition as soon as one half of the copies are sold—as you suggest

I can see no objection to your employing Mr Sowerby to draw the bones & heads for your book on Domesticated animals. I wd stipulate that after he has seen all that you require, he shd send me in writing his estimate of the cost of drawing the 32 or 33 subjects—& a statement of the time within wch he will undertake to draw them—

I have no doubt this work will be as interesting to the Public as it has been to you

I remain | My Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | John Murray

I have still near 600 copies of the Book on Orchids on hand—but the deficiency on it has been reduced to £30.—

Charles Darwin Esqr

    Footnotes Add

  • +
    f1 5417.f1
    The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866].
  • +
    f2 5417.f2
    In order to make revisions and corrections for the fourth edition, CD had requested a clean copy of Origin (see letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866]).
  • +
    f3 5417.f3
    See letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866].
  • +
    f4 5417.f4
    See letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866]. Murray made a copy of this sentence that survives in the Murray Archives (see Calendar no. 5017a).
  • +
    f5 5417.f5
    Murray refers to George Brettingham Sowerby Jr and Variation. See letter to John Murray, 22 February [1866] and nn. 13 and 14.
  • +
    f6 5417.f6
    CD had raised the question of fixing a price with Sowerby in his letter to Murray of 22 February [1866]. Sowerby had nearly completed his illustrations for Variation in October 1866 (see letter to G. B. Sowerby Jr, 19 October [1866]).
  • +
    f7 5417.f7
    There is a statement of Murray's account for Orchids in DAR 171.3: 524--5, annotated by CD: `Feb— 27— 1866. Still about 600 copies on Hand & 30£ deficient.—'
Maximized view Print letter