From W. B. Tegetmeier 22 January [1866]1
Muswell Hill
Jany 22./65
My dear Sir
I was very glad to see your writing again.2 I had heard from Mr Wallace that you were better but would not trouble you with letters.3
I have already engraved
Barb—
Short faced tumbler
African owl
Fantail
and. Carrier.4
There remain to be done the Pouter and Blue Rock.5 of the latter I shall a pure wild bred specimen from Sutherlandshire on Tuesday6 That compleates the pigeons— of the fowls the Spanish cock head is engraved: Polish in Engravers hands— Hamburgh (rose comb) is being drawn—7
I returned Chappuis, (with thanks) by post on Friday.8 The author has sent me a copy—
The experiment respecting the eggs shall be tried as soon as possible both by myself and Mr Zurhorst—9
—Now I want to ask an especial favour which will cost you I hope but little trouble and do me much service
—The Unfortunate “poultry book which was never completed, has at last got into the hands of a solvent publisher10
It is commenced de novo And as all the original matter of Johnson & Wingfield is expunged the book will go by my name only.—.11 All the matter to which you have referred will be retained and I therefore beg to ask you as a great favour to refer to the Poultry book by W B Tegetmeier—12 I do this the more readily as a very small number only 500 of the incomplete edition was printed and I should doubt whether a single copy except that in the British Museum could be obtained for reference Whereas if I live there is no doubt of this present edition being finished and as 4000 of the first part are sold it will be a well known authority—
Trusting you will excuse my troubling you on this subject | Believe me | My dear Sir | Yours very truly | W B Tegetmeier
C Darwin Esq
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Chapuis, Félicien. 1865. Le pigeon voyageur belge. Verviers: Imprimerie de Ch. Vinche.
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Marginalia: Charles Darwin’s marginalia. Edited by Mario A. Di Gregorio with the assistance of Nicholas W. Gill. Vol. 1. New York and London: Garland Publishing. 1990.
Tegetmeier, William Bernhard. 1867. The poultry book: comprising the breeding and management of profitable and ornamental poultry, their qualities and characteristics; to which is added ‘The standard of excellence in exhibition birds’, authorized by the Poultry Club. London and New York: George Routledge & Sons.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Summary
Discusses pigeon and poultry woodcuts [for Variation].
WBT’s poultry book is at last in the hands of a solvent publisher [The poultry book (1867)].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-4983
- From
- William Bernhard Tegetmeier
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- Muswell Hill
- Source of text
- DAR 178: 71
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 4983,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-4983.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14