If at any time you think I can answer any question, it is a real pleasure to me to write.
Yours affectionately, C. DARWIN.
CHARLES DARWIN TO J. MURRAY. Ilkley, Yorkshire [1859].
My dear Sir,
I have received your kind note and the copy; I am infinitely pleased and proud at the appearance of my child.
I quite agree to all you propose about price. But you are really too generous about the, to me, scandalously heavy corrections. Are you not acting unfairly towards yourself? Would it not be better at least to share the 72 pounds 8 shillings? I shall be fully satisfied, for I had no business to send, though quite unintentionally and unexpectedly, such badly composed MS. to the printers.
Thank you for your kind offer to distribute the copies to my friends and assistors as soon as possible. Do not trouble yourself much about the foreigners, as Messrs. Williams and Norgate have most kindly offered to do their best, and they are accustomed to send to all parts of the world.
I will pay for my copies whenever you like. I am so glad that you were so good as to undertake the publication of my book.
My dear Sir, yours very sincerely, CHARLES DARWIN.
P.S.—Please do not forget to let me hear about two days before the copies are distributed.
I do not know when I shall leave this place, certainly not for several weeks. Whenever I am in London I will call on you.
H2 anchor