From V. O. Kovalevsky 2 April 1867
S Petersburg
March 21/2 Ap. 18671
Sir
I am very grateful for the very kind answer You gave to my letter;2 in order to occupy as little as possible of your valuable time, I shall be very short and precise in my answer.
I certainly determine on a translation of Your new work, but in reference to woodcuts I could make them as well here, by the artists of the Academy, the more so as I presume that Mr Murray will be a little tickled, as an editor, to give to somebody else stereotypes of a work which he has not already finished himself, but if in some short lines, which I expect in answer, you shall give me the permission to apply to Mr. Murray, I shall do so, and if his charches for stereotypes are not much higher than the woodcuts made here, I shall certainly be very glad to receive them beforehand.3 All I shall ask You, dear Sir, is to inform Mr Murray, that you have had already the kindness to stipulate with me and accept my propositions, so that, in the very improbable case he should receive a similar proposition, not to accept it, or at least to inform me and give me a little preference.4 For my part, I have made similar conditions, in absence of a litterary treaty, with some continental writers, as Mr. Ch. Vogt, Rosmässler, Billroth5 and other, for receiving early printed sheets of some of their works, and shall be very happy to have the same advantage, over other editors who do not like to honour the right of litterary property, also in English books.
It was very foolish to ask You for a special Introduction, not Knowing the public you speak to You shall certainly be at a loss to say something.—6
Your former book, the “Origin of Species” is translated and printed some three years ago, but I understand that the translation is made not from the original but from the German translation of Mr Bronn, the late Prof. at Heidelberg, and with his remarks.7
Mr. Truebner informed me of the conditions You would accept, but I think it shall be better to inform me about it directly, so that I could make a remittance on some London house, for the first half of the first volume.8
Dear Sir | Yours faithfully | W. Kowalewsky
CD annotations
Footnotes
Bibliography
Billroth, Christian Albert Theodor. 1863. Die allgemeine chirurgische Pathologie und Therapie in fünfzig Vorlesungen: ein Handbuch für Studirende und Aerzte. Berlin: G. Reimer.
Davitashvili, Leo Shiovich. 1951. V. O. Kovalevsky. 2d edition. Moscow: Academy of Science of the USSR.
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.
Rachinskii, Sergei A., trans. 1864. Proiskhozhdenie vidov putem estestvennogo podbora. (Russian translation of Origin.) By Charles Darwin. St Petersburg: A. I. Glazunov.
Rossmässler, Emil Adolf. 1863. Der Wald. Den Freunden und Pflegern des Waldes geschildert. Leipzig and Heidelberg: C. F. Winter.
Variation: The variation of animals and plants under domestication. By Charles Darwin. 2 vols. London: John Murray. 1868.
Vogt, Carl. 1863. Vorlesungen über den Menschen. Seine Stellung in der Schöpfung und in der Geschichte der Erde. 2 vols. Giessen: J. Ricker’sche Buchhandlung.
Summary
On whether to make woodcuts for Variation in Russia or use Murray’s stereotypes. He has similar advance publication agreements with Carl Vogt, E. A. Rossmässler and Theodor Billroth.
The Russian version of Origin is translated from Bronn’s German edition.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-5452
- From
- Vladimir Onufrievich Kovalevsky (Владимир Онуфриевич Ковалевский)
- To
- Charles Robert Darwin
- Sent from
- St Petersburg
- Source of text
- DAR 169: 72
- Physical description
- ALS 3pp †
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 5452,” accessed on 28 March 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-5452.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 15