From Hermann Kindt 11 October 1864
Yarm, Yorkshire
11. October 1864.
Sir,
My German friend has requested me to thank you very warmly for your great kindness; The lines you sent me for him are very welcome and corresponding with his feelings and views.1 As he begs of me to send him a photograph likeness of yours, I should feel greatly obliged to you for naming the photographer where I can obtain the best and most faithful of your portraits. Pardon this new trouble I am herewith giving you with the same kindness you have shown before; you will know but too well that celebrated men are the very centre of gravity to which the minor beings that form their periphery are constantly and irresistably drawn—and you may perhaps agree with me that in our faculty of enthusiasm and admiration lies much seed for our own mental improvement.
My friend has also sent me a number of Brockhaus’s supplementary “Conversations-Lexikon”— “Unsere Zeit”, in which there is a very interesting article on your works etc. (Unsere Zeit, 1863 VII. vol.; pp 699–718)2 This article is the more interesting for German readers in general, as the author gives translated extracts from those of your works which have not yet been translated into German (Zoology of the Voyage etc.; The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs etc.)3 Thus for instance translations of your graphic descriptions of “Canis Magellanicus”,4 “Diodon antennatus”,5 the “Pumas” and “Guanacos”; also of your excellent and humane remarks on slavery in South-America, (the slaves at Fayenda, Rio de Janeiro, etc.) etc.6 Your many German friends will, I trust, read this article with much pleasure, though they will learn from it that the dissatisfactory state of your health has been the cause of your not yet publishing your great work on Natural History in general, of which “the Origin of Species” has been such a noble and worthy introduction.7
If you should like to read the above article, I should have great pleasure in sending you the number of the publication in question, for I understand that you perfectly understand my own beloved German language.8
I have but one excuse for my troubling you with my letter: my great admiration for the man to whom it is directed, and with this admiration I ever remain | Sir, | Your’s very obliged | Hermann Kindt
Footnotes
Bibliography
Browne, Janet. 1995. Charles Darwin. Voyaging. Volume I of a biography. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Coral reefs: The structure and distribution of coral reefs. Being the first part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1842.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
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.
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.
Origin 2d ed.: 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. 1860.
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.
Schönemann, J. 1863. Charles Darwin, englischer Naturforscher. Unsere Zeit. Jahrbuch zum Conversations-Lexikon 7: 699–718.
Zoology: The zoology of the voyage of HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy RN, during the years 1832 to 1836. Edited and superintended by Charles Darwin. 5 pts. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1838–43.
Summary
Requests photograph.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4632
- From
- Hermann Adolph Christian August (Hermann) Kindt
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Yarm
- Source of text
- DAR 169: 14
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4632,” accessed on 18 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4632.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 12