To Julius Dub 20 March 1869
Dear Sir,
I shd be pleased at the appearance of your work, as I naturally wish my views to be widely understood; but I am doubtful whether the publisher of the German editions might not feel injured, if you give many passages, literally from the Origin.1 You must judge on this head for yourself, for I cannot authorise the appearance of any work, which could interfere with the right of the existing Translation.2 For myself, I believe of that more the subject of my work is discussed, the more the original is likely to sell. Dr. Rolle has published a popular exposition of my views, & I have not heard that the German publisher complained.3 I presume that you do not wish that your book shd appear under my authorisation, as I could not give this without receiving the distinct permission of the German publisher.— A new English Edition of the Origin is now passing through to press, & in a month or so all the sheets will be printed off. The Edt contains some important additions in relation to the views of Nageli, Mr Wagner— the glacial period &c.4 I shd strongly advise you [2 words illeg] given the time to read it carefully & if you agree to do so, I would gladly send you clean sheets before the work is published. The smaller corrections are numerous, partly in consequence of the evidence being stronger or weaker on [each] point & more especially as I have become convinced, that slight individual differences are cases of more importance than I firstly supposed & that single variations have largely led to [every] result.—
If on reflection you are convinced that you can [conveniently] publish your new work without injury to the G. [Translation], I shall be pleased, & in this case be so kind as to inform me & I will send you the sheets of the new Edition.
Believe me | Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | C. Darwin
Dr Julius Dub
March 20/1869/
Footnotes
Bibliography
Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.
Dub, Julius. 1870. Kurze Darstellung der Lehre Darwin’s über die Entstehung der Arten der Organismen mit erläuternden Bemerkungen. Stuttgart: E Schweizerbart.
Nägeli, Carl Wilhelm von. 1865. Entstehung und Begriff der naturhistorischen Art. 2d edition. Munich: Verlag der königl. Akademie.
Origin 5th ed.: On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. 5th edition, with additions and corrections. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1869.
Rolle, Friedrich. 1863. Chs. Darwin’s Lehre von der Entstehung der Arten im Pflanzen- und Thierreich in ihrer Anwendung auf die Schöpfungsgeschichte. Frankfurt: J. C. Hermann.
Summary
CD will supply the sheets of the new edition of the Origin [5th ed. (1869)] if JD goes ahead with his work [Kurze Darstellung der Lehre Darwin’s über die Entstehung der Arten der Organismen (1870)]. Has no objection to JD’s quoting him, but wonders whether the German publisher of Origin might not feel injured.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6673
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Christoph Julius (Julius) Dub
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 96: 62, 64
- Physical description
- ADraftS 3pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6673,” accessed on 9 November 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6673.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17
