From Gustavus Fritsche 23 October 1875
Częstochowa
23 October | 1875
My dear Sir
I beg very much your pardon that I did not answer to your letter till now, but I was in Warsaw with my poor mother, who was very dangerously ill—1 Now as she is better and I returned to my usual occupations, I must first of all thank you for your kind letter from 21 Sept. I have written to some publishers in Warsaw. Some of them are disposed to publish the work about the Variation under Domestication but they require an exact notice: how large the work will be, how many woodcuts it will contain, if I could procure the woodcuts from London etc. I will be very much obliged to you Sir if you had the kindness to send the promised copy (perhaps the first Volume, as soon as it will be published) to my booksellers: Mers. Gierth and Werner Booksellers in Kattowitz Prussia— but you must write on the book that it is destined for me—2 The copy will be for me a dear remembrance for your sake.
I have translated your description of Terra del Fueggo and some other chapters of your Voyage round the world and insert it in one of our weekly papers.3
After my arrival from England the editor of an illustrated paper from Warsaw begged me to give him the photograph of the house you inhabit, because he wished to insert a picture of it in his paper. I did not possess it and I would not trouble you with such a trifle, but now as the opportunity presents itself, I dare beg you, Sir, to send me it with the book.
I enjoyed my visit to England very much, but I was obliged to return to my country very soon after my visit in Down, because I had a letter that my wife was not quite well.4
Mr. Maslowski begs me to inform you that the Polish translation of the Descent of Man is finished and the work will appear in the next month.5
Believe me, dear Sir | Yours faithfully | Dr. Gustavus Fritsche
P.S. Be good enough, dear Sir to satisfy my curiosity and let me know: if Sir John Lubbock who inhabits the pretty house in your neighbourhood is the author of: “Prehistoric times” and “the origin of civilization”6
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.
Journal of researches 2d ed.: Journal of researches into the natural history and geology of the countries visited during the voyage of HMS Beagle round the world, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN. 2d edition, corrected, with additions. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1845.
Journal of researches: Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, RN, from 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Henry Colburn. 1839.
Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.
Summary
About a Polish edition of Variation.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-10221
- From
- Gustavus Fritsche
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Czestochowa
- Source of text
- DAR 164: 217
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10221,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10221.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23