Darwin Autograph Letter – 1869
Year: 1869
Price: $50,000
Description
An apparently unpublished letter by Charles Darwin regarding a new American edition of On the Origin of Species.
Author: Charles Darwin (English)
Location: Down, Beckenham, Kent
Date: November 26, [1869]
Pages: 3 pp.
Volume: 1 vol., 8vo
Format: Bifolium on Down, Bromley, Kent stationery (with "Bromley" corrected to "Beckenham")
Letter Excerpt
Charles Darwin (1809–1882) writes to Charles Layton, Appleton's London agent, about publishing a revised and expanded second American edition of On the Origin of Species. The letter responds to Layton’s inquiry about stereotyped plates of the English edition.
In part:
“The last or 5th Edit. of the Origin was printed off some months ago & it is impossible to supply stereotypes. I hope that you will inform Mr. Appleton of what I have said of the increased size of this last & 5th Edit. As 2000 copies of this Edit were printed, there will not be a new Edit. for a considerable time ...
If Mr. Appleton will reprint this 5th Edition ... I will pledge myself to endeavour to persuade Mr. Murray to supply stereotype plates of my new book on the Descent of Man; but as I never before heard of such a scheme, I have no idea whether he will comply. At any rate I will please myself, on the above conditions & on the terms suggested in your letter, to send over the sheets as printed & stereotype casts of the woodcuts. But please remember my new book will not go to press for many months.”
Appleton had published the first American edition of Origin in 1860, based on Murray’s second English edition. In line with Darwin’s letter, Appleton published the second American edition in 1870 (based on the 5th English edition), followed by The Descent of Man in 1871.
Literature
Referenced in the Darwin Correspondence Project: DCP-LETT-7003 (Layton to Darwin, 22 November 1869).
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Details
Language: English
Subject: Ephemera, Letters, Science
Purchase
Item: Charles Darwin Autograph Letter Signed ("Ch. Darwin")
Recipient: Charles Layton, Appleton's London agent
Topic: Second American Edition of On the Origin of Species
Price: $50,000
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