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Darwin Correspondence Project

From Charles Kingsley   30 May 1865

Eversley Rectory, | Winchfield.

May 30/65

My dear Sir

We desire much your photograph. I say honestly, there is no living man whom I have not seen, whom I wish to see as much as I do you: & failing that, to have some Eidolon1 of you for myself & mine.

If you have any photograph of yourself—or if you can tell me where I can procure one, you will do me a real favour.

The more I think, & see, the more I find to make me thankful for your great book2

Yours faithfully | C Kingsley

Footnotes

Eidolon: image (OED).
Kingsley refers to Origin; CD sent a presentation copy to him in 1859 (see Correspondence vol. 8, Appendix III). Kingsley was an acquaintance of Thomas Henry Huxley and John Lubbock and took an active interest in natural history (see F. Kingsley ed. 1877, Hutchinson 1914, 1: 23, and A. Desmond 1994–7, 1: 208–9). Kingsley’s reaction to Origin was largely favourable (see, for example, Correspondence vol. 7, letter from Charles Kingsley, 18 November 1859, and Correspondence vol. 10, letter from Charles Kingsley, 31 January 1862); he believed, with Asa Gray, that natural selection and natural theology were not inconsistent with one another if one took the view that natural selection operated in accordance with divine purpose (see F. Kingsley ed. 1877, 2: 171–5, 346, and F. Kingsley ed. 1883, pp. 252–3). For a discussion of Kingsley’s views, see Colloms 1975, pp. 236, 243–4, 252, and 265–6, and A. Desmond 1994–7, 1: 263, 289.

Bibliography

Colloms, Brenda. 1975. Charles Kingsley: the lion of Eversley. London: Constable. New York: Barnes & Noble.

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

Desmond, Adrian. 1994–7. Huxley. 2 vols. London: Michael Joseph.

Hutchinson, Horace Gordon. 1914. Life of Sir John Lubbock, Lord Avebury. 2 vols. London: Macmillan.

OED: The Oxford English dictionary. Being a corrected re-issue with an introduction, supplement and bibliography of a new English dictionary. Edited by James A. H. Murray, et al. 12 vols. and supplement. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1970. A supplement to the Oxford English dictionary. 4 vols. Edited by R. W. Burchfield. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1972–86. The Oxford English dictionary. 2d edition. 20 vols. Prepared by J. A. Simpson and E. S. C. Weiner. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1989. Oxford English dictionary additional series. 3 vols. Edited by John Simpson et al. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1993–7.

Origin: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1859.

Summary

Requests CD’s photograph.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-4843
From
Charles Kingsley
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
Eversley
Source of text
DAR 169: 31
Physical description
ALS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4843,” accessed on 24 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4843.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 13

letter