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Darwin Correspondence Project

To R. F. Cooke   4 November 1871

Leith Hill Place | Wotton Surrey. | (until Friday morning)

Nov 4. 1871

My dear Sir

From what you say please to let the new edit. be stereotyped.1 I hope to cause no delay.

I believe I asked Messrs Clowes to send me 3 or 4, & not 7 or 8 sheets, at a time.2 Please to print 500 or 1000 of the Descent of Man as you think fit. I shall not correct a word, except on the title-page the numbers of the 1000.3

At some future time, if the book goes on selling, I shd like to bring out a revised addition.4

Thanks for information about Mr Wright’s pamphlet5

yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

1
Cooke had recommended that the sixth edition of Origin be stereotyped (see letter from R. F. Cooke, 1 November 1871 and n. 2).
2
The letter to the printers William Clowes & Sons regarding the proof-sheets of Origin 6th ed. has not been found.
3
See letter from R. F. Cooke, 1 November 1871 and n. 3. Small textual changes were made to the fourth printing of Descent, and the title page read ‘eighth thousand’ (Freeman 1977).
4
The second edition of Descent was published in 1874.
5
CD had requested the sales figures for Chauncey Wright’s review of Mivart 1871a (Wright 1871b). See letter from R. F. Cooke, 1 November 1871 and n. 5.

Bibliography

Descent: The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1871.

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.

Origin 6th ed.: The origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 6th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.

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.

Summary

Agrees to stereotyping Origin [6th ed.].

Asks that 500 or 1000 more copies of Descent be printed. Will make no corrections except the number of thousands on title page. Would like to revise [Descent] if it goes on selling.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-8052
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray
Sent from
Leith Hill Place
Source of text
National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms. 42152 ff. 238–9)
Physical description
LS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 8052,” accessed on 20 September 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-8052.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 19

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