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Darwin Correspondence Project

To J. J. Moulinié   15 November [1869]1

Down. | Beckenham | Kent. S.E.

Nov 15

My dear Sir

I am glad to say that I have heard from M. Reinwald that he will publish, & I have told Mr Murray to send you a copy at once.

If Prof. Vogt will aid you I shd think it wd be a great advantage, & his name is a tower of strength.2

I strongly advise you to procure or borrow the 2nd or 3rd edit of Mlle Royer’s translation, in order that the more important terms such as “concurrence” & “selection” (which she did not use in the 1st edit.) may be the same.3 As your translation will have to compete with Mlle Royer’s, who I am told writes very spirited French, you will I think have to keep this in view in regard to style. I will, in a few days send you a few trifling corrections which do not relate to the early parts, & likewise a prefatory letter.

I sincerely hope that for all our sakes this translation may prove successful & I am much obliged to you for under taking it.

Believe me my dear Sir | yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin

Footnotes

The year is established by the relationship between this letter and the letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 13 November 1869.
Charles-Ferdinand Reinwald was to ask Carl Vogt for assistance with the French translation of the fifth English edition of Origin (see letter from C.-F. Reinwald, 13 November 1869). CD also refers to John Murray.
CD refers to Royer trans. 1862, Royer trans. 1866, and Royer trans. 1870. Clémence Auguste Royer used ‘concurrence vitale’ for ‘struggle for existence’. For Royer’s use of ‘sélection’ in Royer trans. 1866, see Correspondence vol. 13, letter from C. A. Royer, [April–June 1865] and n. 3. See also Harvey 1997, pp. 62–79.

Bibliography

Correspondence: The correspondence of Charles Darwin. Edited by Frederick Burkhardt et al. 29 vols to date. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1985–.

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.

Summary

Makes suggestions for French translation of Origin.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-6989
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Jean Jacques Moulinié
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Bibliothèque de Genève (Ms. suppl. 66, ff. 13–14)
Physical description
LS 3pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 6989,” accessed on 23 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-6989.xml

Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17

letter