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Darwin Correspondence Project

From R. F. Cooke   8 October 1875

50A, Albemarle Street, London. W.

Octr. 8 1875

My dear Sir

It is Sigr. Canestrini, who owes us still £10 for the Electro’s supplied in 1869 for the 1st. edition of “Domestication” & now he wishes I presume the new woodcuts in the edition now printing.1 Are there any & many?

The price for a set of the ones in the Expression is also £10.2

I have seen Messrs. Clowes & urged them on with the printing. It does not much matter as we have “Climbing Plants” ready, if “Domestication” is not finished before Decr. We can show a made up copy of Vol 1.3

I will write about Lyell’s work direct to Chiantore.4

Yours faithfully | Robt. Cooke

Chas. Darwin Esq

I suppose you have not heard whether they want a set of stereotypes of Domn for America.?5

CD annotations

1.1 Canestrini] underl blue crayon
1.3 Are there any & many?] triple scored red crayon
2.1 a set of … also £10.] triple scored red crayon
7.1 I suppose … for America.? 7.2] scored red crayon
End of letter: ‘How many Copies printed off & Stereotypes’ red crayon
Verso of last page: ‘8.2.9’ ink

Footnotes

Giovanni Canestrini had ordered electrotypes of the illustrations from the first edition of Variation for his translation, which remained unpublished; he had evidently asked for information about the illustrations for the revised translation that he was about to publish with a new publisher, Unione Tipografico-Editrice (Canestrini trans 1876); see letter from R. F. Cooke, 5 October 1875 and n. 4.
The Italian translation of Expression was also published by Unione Tipografico-Editrice (Canestrini and Bassani trans. 1878).
William Clowes & Sons were printers to John Murray. Climbing plants 2d ed. was published in November 1875 (Publishers’ circular, 16 November 1875, p. 932). Variation 2d ed. was published in February 1876 (Publishers’ circular, 1 March 1876, p. 168), although it had an 1875 imprint. Cooke planned to have a ‘made-up’ copy of vol. 1 of Variation 2d ed. for John Murray’s November sale dinner (see J. Murray 1908–9, p. 540).
G. Chiantore was the director of Unione Tipografico-Editrice of Turin. Murray may have been discussing a possible translation of the posthumous edition of Charles Lyell’s Principles of geology (Lyell 1875), but no Italian translation has been identified.
There was some doubt over whether CD’s US publisher, D. Appleton & Co., could publish the second edition of Variation, since the first US edition had been published by Orange Judd & Co. D. Appleton & Co. did publish Variation 2d US ed. from Murray’s stereotypes in 1876. See letter to R. F. Cooke, 1 September [1875] and n. 5, and letter from D. Appleton & Co., 11 October 1875.

Bibliography

Climbing plants 2d ed.: The movements and habits of climbing plants. 2d edition. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1875.

Expression: The expression of the emotions in man and animals. By Charles Darwin. London: John Murray. 1872.

Lyell, Charles. 1875. Principles of geology: or, the modern changes of the earth and its inhabitants considered as illustrative of geology. 12th edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray.

Murray, John. 1908–9. Darwin and his publisher. Science Progress in the Twentieth Century 3: 537–42.

Variation 2d ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2d edition. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1875.

Variation 2d US ed.: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. New York: D. Appleton. 1876.

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

Summary

Canestrini still owes £10 from 1869 for electros of 1st edition [of Variation].

RC has urged Clowes on with printing of Variation [2d ed.],

but with Climbing plants [2d ed.] ready, it need not be done before the annual sale.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-10187
From
Robert Francis Cooke; John Murray
To
Charles Robert Darwin
Sent from
London, Albemarle St, 50a
Source of text
DAR 171: 471
Physical description
ALS 3pp †

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 10187,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-10187.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 23

letter