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Darwin Correspondence Project

To John Murray   20 September 1867

6 Queen Anne St | W.

Sept 20th 1867

My dear Sir

I acknowledge receipt & thank you for the very pleasant remittance of £250 for the 4th. Edit. of Origin.—1

I enclose cheque for Presentation Copies;2 be so kind as to return me the enclosed receipted.— I am very glad to see that Orchid Book does sell a little.3 I hope the new Book will be more successful;4 but Heaven only knows.

I think it will be a very good plan that I may see a portion of Index, before, I presume, it is arranged alphabetically & I will compare it with the early sheets.—5

With my ⁠⟨⁠best than⁠⟩⁠ks | yours very sincerely | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

An entry in CD’s Account books–banking account (Down House MS) for 20 September 1867 records a payment of £12 for presentation copies.
According to the account Murray sent, 165 copies of Orchids had been sold and 516 remained (see enclosure to letter from John Murray, 19 September [1867]).
CD refers to Variation; he had almost finished correcting the first proofs of the work and planned to begin working on the second proofs on 1 October 1867 (see letter to J. V. Carus, 16 September 1867).

Bibliography

Orchids: On the various contrivances by which British and foreign orchids are fertilised by insects, and on the good effects of intercrossing. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1862.

Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.

Summary

Thanks for "pleasant remittance" of £250 for 4th edition of Origin.

Glad to see that Orchids sells a little.

Hopes Variation will be more successful.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-5632
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
John Murray
Sent from
London, Queen Anne St, 6
Source of text
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 f. 173)
Physical description
ALS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5632,” accessed on 5 June 2025, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5632.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15

letter