To Smith, Elder & Co. [17 May 1842]1
[12 Upper Gower Street, London.]
Tuesday
Dear Sir
In case my message was not intelligible, I write to say that my last note expressed exactly what I wanted.—2 Will you, therefore, send copies to the Athenaeum, Edinburgh Review, Jameson Phil. Journ. & Taylor’s Phil. Journ.—3 You can write from the author on the first page if you please. I did not give the names of those, to whom I have sent the other copies, because I thought it did not signify, they are either people who had materially aided me or foreigners, who I thought by noticing the work, would aid its sale. The four copies sent from private friendship you say you have charged to my private account, which is all right. So 21 copies (instead of 20 as originally proposed, the change caused by the addition of Silliman) have been sent gratuitously,—and this is exactly as I always intended, & as was allowed for in the estimate.4
I am sorry you have had all this trouble.— I hope you will distribute the copies soon.— I took two copies for Societies in Paris to Bailliere & he seemed inclined to send some on his own account:—possibly this might be worth looking to.—5 I leave Town tomorrow morning—6
Yours very faithfully | C. Darwin
The copy for Dr Allan of Forres in Scotland might be sent to Edinburgh & then forwarded (if there be any difficulty on this head) by coach, he paying the carriage.7
Footnotes
Summary
Gives instructions for sending out copies of Coral reefs to various journals. Discusses the complimentary copies which have already been sent out.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-629A
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Smith, Elder & Co
- Sent from
- London
- Source of text
- Christie’s (dealers) (7 December 1988); Gerard A. J. Stodolski (dealer) (April 2014)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 629A,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-629A.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 7 (Supplement) and 24 (Supplement)