To Thomas Woolner 6 August [1878]1
Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.
Aug. 6th
My dear Mr Woolner
Your account of the Ourang is very curious. I had not heard even of its existence.2 Whenever I go to London, I hope to see him or her; but this will not be soon & indeed tomorrow morning we leave home for a three weeks visit.—3
Pray remember us to Mrs Woolner4 | & believe me | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
Footnotes
The year is established by the mention of the visit starting on 7 August (see n. 3, below), and by the mention of the orang-utan (see n. 2, below).
Woolner’s account has not been found. A young female orang-utan had arrived at the Zoological Gardens of London on 27 July 1878 (Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London (1878): 789).
The Darwins visited family in Surrey and Staffordshire between 7 and 22 August 1878 (CD’s ‘Journal’ (Appendix II)).
Summary
TW’s account of the Ourang is very curious. CD hopes to see the primate whenever he goes to London, but he is leaving home for three weeks.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-6307A
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Thomas Woolner
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- Stephan Loewentheil and the 19th Century Shop, Baltimore, Maryland (dealer) (1990)
- Physical description
- ALS 1p
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6307A,” accessed on 19 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6307A.xml
letter
