To A. B. Meyer 27 November [1869]1
Down. | Beckenham Kent S.E.
Novr. 27th.
Dear Sir.
I despatched the pamphlet yesterday—2 You are quite at liberty to give a Photograph of me; but it seems useless, & I feel sure that the English Photographers will charge you a very large price. But I am not willing to sit on purpose; it is what I hate doing & wastes a whole day owing to my weak health; and to sit with another person would cause still more trouble & delay—3 Photographs can be procured at Messrs Elliot & Fry, or Messrs Edwards & Bult both residing in Baker St. London.
The Rock thrush is the Rupicola, but I forget whether that of Guiana is the crocea or aurantia.4
Your translation of Wallace has not yet arrived but books are often long delayed in coming from Germany5
Pray believe me | Dear Sir | Yours very faithfully | Ch. Darwin
P.S | I am very sorry to be disobliging about the Photographs, but I cannot endure the thought of sitting again, and I have refused 3 or 4 Photographers lately.
Messrs Elliot & Fry are the last who have taken me, & they came down here on purpose—6
Footnotes
Bibliography
Meyer, Adolf Bernhard. 1870. Charles Darwin und Alfred Russel Wallace. Ihre Ersten Publicationen über die ‘Entstehung der Arten’ nebst einer Skizze Ihres Lebens und einem Verzeichniss Ihrer Schriften. Erlangen: Eduard Besold.
Summary
Not willing to sit for photographer again.
ABM’s translation of Wallace’s Malay Archipelago has not yet arrived.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-7014
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Adolf Bernhard Meyer
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- DAR 146: 362
- Physical description
- C 2pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 7014,” accessed on 26 September 2022, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-7014.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 17
