To John Murray [26 June 1845]
Down Bromley Kent
Thursday
Dear Sir
I have adopted & am much obliged for, your criticism on the Preface. It will be now too late to insert the advertisement of the Zoolo. & Geol. of the Voyage in the First Part.—
I am sorry to say that this Part runs to 176 pages: I found I could not shorten so much as not to leave a broken sheet, so that I have managed to get all in this Part, by running two chapters together & by throwing away two pages of type: I have written to Mrs. Clowes, begging them to send me a little account for the setting up & distributing of these two pages & for the corrections consequent on it:
I will try to make the next Part only 160 pages, but I find it almost impossible, with so many alterations to keep any accurate calculation, as is shown by the last M.S. having run out 13 pages too much.
Dear Sir | Your’s very faithfully | C. Darwin
PS. To night. Mrs. Clowes will receive title & every sheet finally corrected.— The title, Preface Contents &c all been put by Mrs Clowes into half a sheet
Summary
Agrees with JM’s criticism of preface [of Journal of researches, 2d ed.].
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-879
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- John Murray
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- National Library of Scotland (John Murray Archive) (Ms.42152 ff.17–18)
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 879,” accessed on 23 September 2023, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-879.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 3