From V. O. Kovalevsky [before 8 August 1872]1
218 Euston Road.
Dear Sir
I am very happy Dear Sir to share any profits that will come out of the Edition of Your new book and I hope profits will come out of it.2 We had so much to talk over during my visit, that I could not fully explain to You how matter stands with Your other works.3 I would be extremely glad to share also any profits from Your former 4 vol. but unhappily till now I am a heavy loser by them.4 You will appreciate this seemingly strange fact by my saying that besides my complete Edition of Your Descent of Man, we have in Russia two pirated abridged edition of the same work selling at a very low price.5 We are not protected by a treaty and every successful book printed in England is sure to be published in an abridged and bad translation, which by its low price cuts entirely all profits of a good and complete Edition.
By publishing the work “on Expression” shortly after the original there is a hope of preventing competitive and bad Editions, but still I must be prepared that after the book is out in England it will be translated and printed in a cheap form with some of the woodcuts made in Russia, and the whole book sold at 2/6 or 3s.6 However if profits will come, I and my brother will be very glad to share them.7 If You will allow me, I’ll call one day of the ensuing week, for a short visit, on You, and try to arrange this matter to our mutual satisfaction
Your very truly | W. Kowalevsky
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.
Freeman, Richard Broke. 1977. The works of Charles Darwin: an annotated bibliographical handlist. 2d edition. Folkestone, Kent: William Dawson & Sons. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, Shoe String Press.
[Kovalevsky, Vladimir Onufrievich], trans. 1871–2. Proiskhozhdenie cheloveka i podbor’ po otnosheniyu k polu. By Charles Darwin. Translated from English under the editorial direction of I. M. Sechenov. (Russian translation of Descent.) 2 vols. Saint Petersburg: Izdanie Knizhnago Magazina Cherkesova.
[Kovalevsky, Vladimir Onufrievich], trans. 1872. O vyrazhenii oshchushchenii u cheloveka i zhivotnykh. By Charles Darwin. Translated from the author’s proofs under the editorial direction of Prof. A. Kovalevsky. (Russian translation of Expression.) St Petersburg: Tipografia F. S. Sushchinskogo.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
So far VOK has lost money on his translation of Descent because of pirate editions.
Agrees to share profits on Expression.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-8456
- From
- Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский)
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- London, Euston Rd, 218
- Source of text
- DAR 169: 56
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8456,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8456.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 20