autograph letter signed de darwin charles (12 résultats)

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged. He begins by conveying his irritation that Masters had arranged 'a visit to the Society's Museum' without consulting 'the authorities'. However, as the notices have been distributed, and 'the party will be a very small one, we must do the best we can'. He asks to be informed, 'by return of post, what you think will interest your friends, in order that the drawers may be got out & prepared for their inspection'. He repeats what he said in a former letter: that 'our Collection is not one to be displayed to people in search of things of general interest, - it is particularly intended for he use of students for reference, - its mode of preservation renders it particularly unified to be made a show of, - & the staff of the Society is so small that at this time of the year [.] we are about as much occupied as we can well be.' He hopes that his explanation 'will suffice to show that my objection to receive a party of visitors for show purposes is not due either to caprice or ill-nature, but simply to the actual nature of the case'. Dallas's obituary in the Geological Magazine (July 1890) describes how he 'frequently acted as collaborateur to Darwin, and indexed his works for him with hat loving care which only strong personal attachment could have brought to the task'.

1p., 4to. 31 lines of text, written in a neat and close hand. The letter begins in lighthearted fashion: 'Dear Martha, | I never wrote Poetry in my life, and write as you see a very prosaic Hand; I hope you are not one who form your ideas of character from Handwriting, if you do, I ifear you will regard me as stiff, stubborn, unbending, self willed, and self-opinionated, and very likely you will be not far wrong.' He boasts of having known the recipient and her 'three amiable sisters' for 14 years, and discusses his relationship with them (their father being his mother's cousin), and the fact that his sister, who died at the age of 14 in 1830, 'was named Alison Dewar White: she was a lovely girl, and was removed, just when her accomplishments had begun to manifest themselves and her education to tell'. The final paragraph concerns 'the Rev James Hamilton, author of "Life in Earnest" "The Dew of Hermon" & many other admirable tracts & essays [.] He is a man of very considerable mental powers, of a most cultivated intellect, specially fond of botany & entomology and like me a Fellow off the Linnean Society of London'. The letter concludes: 'my paper fails & I get garrulously gossiping'. In 1851 Darwin provided White with a testimonial in which he expressed his 'high opinion' of his 'Zoological attainments', and praising his 'great zeal for every branch of Natural History'.

2pp., 12mo. On bifolium with mourning border. In fair condition, aged and worn, with the second leaf laid down on part of a leaf cut from an autograph album. He is enclosing 'a Lecture Syllabus from Mr. Nicol, whom you may perhaps remember having seen meet me in the committee room on the day of my lecture'. Nicols wants Romanes to recommend him as a lecturer, but he only knows him 'from his book "Zoological Notes" which I reviewed in Nature. It was a good book & an entertaining one, but I know nothing of his capabilities as a lecturer.' 'Zoological Notes' by Arthur Nicols was published in London in 1883.

Dated Down, Farnborough, R.S.O., Kent, Sunday, (no date). One sheet folded to make four pages, 7 x 4 1/2 inches each, two pages are used. The watermark, "Joynson Superfine", doesn't help to date the letter - William Joynson started using it in 1834. "My dear Frances, I am anxious to know how your cousin is today, & whether you have hopes of being able to move tomorrow - if you have leisure to come & see me this afternoon.but only send me a verbal answer at all events." This letter not recorded in the "Darwin Correspondence Project" at the University of Cambridge, which covers "Over 15,000 letters and articles", including 85 by Emma. She knew several women named Frances, including Frances Power Cobbe; five letters to Miss Cobbe are recorded by the "Project". In Fine condition.

Etat : Fine. 3 pp. Bifolium of Down, Bromley, Kent, stationery, with "Bromley" crossed out and corrected to Beckenham. 1 vols. 8vo. Unpublished. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) writes to Charles Layton, London agent for Appleton, about bringing out a revised and expanded second American edition of On the Origin of Species. The letter is a reply to Layton's of the day before*, in which he'd inquired after 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 endevour 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 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 got to press for many months." Appleton had published the first American edition of Origin in 1860, from Murray's second English edition. In keeping with the terms of the present letter, Appleton published the second American edition, based on the 5th English edition, in 1870, followed by the first American edition of The Descent of Man in 1871. *See Darwin Correspondence Project DCP-LETT-7003 for Layton to Darwin, 22 November 1869. 3 pp. Bifolium of Down, Bromley, Kent, stationery, with "Bromley" crossed out and corrected to Beckenham. 1 vols. 8vo.

No Binding. Etat : Near Fine. One page. Original folds. Very good condition. Nicely framed. Darwin discusses the hereditary transmission of behavior and a vivid example of the phenomenon from the opening chapter of The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. In this letter Darwin thanks Fanny Kellogg for communicating the curious case of an habitual gesture, like that which I have described as inherited. I may add that since I wrote, the action has been transmitted to another generation. Your case shall be sent to Mr. Galton, who gave me the information. In The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), Darwin had discussed the heritability of habitual gestures. There he cited at length a remarkable case related to him by his cousin Francis Galton. Galton, a distinguished scientist in his own right, was keenly interested in the inheritance in humans, and the two men often shared findings and theories. Darwin quoted Galton in The Expression of the Emotions on page 33: A gentleman of considerable position was found by his wife to have the curious trick, when he lay fast asleep on his back in bed, of raising his right arm slowly in front of his face, up to his forehead, and then dropping it with a jerk, so that the wrist fell heavily on the bridge of his nose. The trick did not occur every night, but occasionally, and was independent of any ascertained cause. Sometimes it was repeated incessantly for an hour or more. The gentleman s nose was prominent, and its bridge often became sore from the blows which it received. At one time an awkward sore w as produced, that was long in healing, on account of the recurrence, night after night, of the blows which first caused it. His wife had to remove the button from the wrist of his night-gown as it made severe scratches and some means were attempted of tying his arm. Galton went on, Many years after his death, his son married a lady who had never heard of the family incident. She, however, observed precisely the same peculiarity in her husband, but his nose, from not being particularly prominent, has never as yet suffered from the blows. The trick does not occur when he is half-asleep, as, for example, when dozing in his arm-chair, but the moment he is fast asleep it is apt to begin Galton further noted that the behavior had been passed down to the son s daughter. Darwin s letter offered here reveals that he learned, after the publication of Expression of Emotions, that yet another generation has acquired the remarkable habitual behavior! This fascinating letter demonstrates the lengths to which Darwin went gathering data and telling examples for his writings. His published books reached a wide audience, producing additional correspondence with yet more evidence for his theories. The letter is also noteworthy for being signed in full Charles Darwin, instead of the more usual abbreviated Ch. Darwin. Signed by Author(s).

8vo. 1 p. To an unidentified recipient, 'I have real pleasure in signing Mr. Bonney's certificate, which I herewith return. I am delighted to hear that you are interested in my Book [the 'k' seemingly overwritten to obscure the 's' from the original plural of 'Books']', watermark 'Joynson / 1859', one page with integral blank, 8voThe watermark in the paper tantalisingly hints that the unnamed book referred to may have been Darwin's On the Origin of Species, which was published by John Murray on 24 November 1859. Bonney may be the geologist Thomas George Bonney (1833-1923), who contributed the Appendix to the third edition of Darwin's The Structure and Distribution of Coral Reefs, (Smith Elder & Co., 1889).Thomas George Bonney was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1860, and his nomination form was signed by Charles Darwin 'from personal knowledge'. From the nomination form and a letter at the Geological Society dated February 1860 it appears that the person organising Bonney's nomination was the civil engineer Sir John Hawkshaw (1811-1891); in 1865 his son John Clarke Hawkshaw, (a contemporary of Charles and Emma's son George at Trinity College, Cambridge), married Cecily Mary Wedgwood, a niece of Charles and Emma Darwin.In conclusion, there is therefore a strong possibility that the letter here is to Sir John Hawkshaw and was written on 1 January [1860].

8vo. 1 page on bifolium. To a "dear Sir", politely rejecting a proposed translation: "I am much obliged for your offer, but I have already agreed with Herr Koch & Prof. Victor Carus for a Translation [.]. - On headed stationery of Down House. Small traces of former mounting on reverse.

8vo. 4 pp. on bifolium. An important letter to Nathaniel Thomas Wetherell which underscores Darwin's belief in the scientific significance of the study of Cirripedia (barnacles): "I fear that you will think me a sad trespasser on your kindness & forbearance, when I tell you that I have not actually completed my description of Loricula; but I shall do it directly & write now to obtain your permission to take (myself) your specimen to Mr. James De C. Sowerby to [be] drawn for publication by the Palæontographical Society. I have received Mr [John Wickham] Flower's specimens, & some from Denmark but none are related to the Loricula, which is as perplexing as ever to me. Immediately that Mr Sowerby has with your permission figured the Loricula (& I shall take it up in a fortnight) it shall be returned to you. Is there any safe place where I could leave it in London for you, or shall I return it by a messenger? I believe I did once before ask you, whether you have any other fossil Cirripedia. To save you the trouble of answering, I will assume, without I hear to the contrary that Mr Sowerby may figure it. With my best thanks I remain / dear Sir / Yours faithfully / C. Darwin / I assure you that it has not been idleness which has delayed me, but numbers of specimens of other fossil Cirri[pe]des". - We are able to date this letter precisely because August 1850 was the only month with a 'Thursday 8th' in the period between the Palaeontographical Society's decision to publish Fossil Cirripedia and the publication of the first volume of this work in 1851, in which Loricula pulchella is described (Fossil Cirripedia [1851], 81-86). - James de Carle Sowerby drew all the figures of the specimens in the first volume of Fossil Cirripedia. At the time of writing, Darwin does not seem to have known that George Brettingham Sowerby Jr. had described and figured this particular specimen in 1843. However, since that time Wetherell had cleared away more material from the specimen, revealing features not seen by G. B. Sowerby Jr, and a new drawing was made for Darwin's description (Fossil Cirripedia [1851], 81). - Slight damage to paper (no loss to text) and professionally restored in places. - Darwin Correspondence Project, no. 1267.

8vo. 1 page. On personal stationery watermarked Joynson Superfine, some stains to blank, two small spots to upper section, light thumb-soiling to fore-edge, some small adhesive stains to lower edge." To J.F. Galbraith: I thank you for your kindness in having written me so long a letter, but I can assure you that there is not a naturalist in the world who would credit that germinating seeds could be developed into animals of any kind. There was plenty of time and means for the indefinite multiplication of innumerable kinds of animals in the cask." - The recipient, J.F. Galbraith of Nelsonville, Manitoba, wrote Darwin a 3-page letter on October 20, 1881 in which he recounts an incident of development of worms in a barrel of wheat, noting that he had pondered Darwin's view that plants and animals may have had a common ancestor. Darwin tactfully sets him straight.See Darwin Correspondence Database, darwinproject /entry-13417; Burkhardt, Frederick, A Calendar of Correspondence of Charles Darwin, 1821-1882, Volume 1, p 562.

No Binding. Etat : Very Good. 1st Edition. 8vo bifolium (202 x 127 mm), pp. [2]; with address printed at head of first page (Bromley crossed through in ink and replaced by hand with Beckenham), comprising 33 lines written in black ink; short closed tear at foot of second leaf (without loss), signed at foot of second page "Ch. Darwin"; some adhesions to corners of final blank page from previous mounting, else in very good condition. Not recorded on the Darwin Correspondence Project. In this unpublished letter to an unidentified naturalist, Darwin responds to a question from his correspondent, expressing his inability to provide assistance, and confessing that he would have no clue where to look in his notes for an answer. The letter probably postdates June 1869, from which time Darwin's postal address had changed to 'Down, Beckenham, Kent' from 'Down, Bromley, Kent'. The letter reads: "It wd give me great pleasure to aid in however slight a degree a naturalist so able & zealous as yourself. But I am quite unable & I do not see how anyone could, so little or nothing being known of the aboriginal form of our larger domestic animals & of course not of their length of life. I do not think that I have kept any notes on the duration of life of our quadrupeds, & it would be a hopeless task to look over my notes, as I have no clue where to look. I do not suppose it will be of any use to you, but I have hand copied a footnote on the approximate duration of life of a few small birds, which after a search I have found appended to one of my M.S. chapters. Pray believe me Dear Sir Yours faithfully Ch. Darwin".

DARWIN, Charles. Autograph letter signed. Down, Beckenham, Kent: Dec 17, [1866]. One leaf of black-edged mourning stationery, measuring 4-1/2 by 7 inches, penned on recto for one page; floated, matted and framed with an early photographic card; entire piece measures 17 by 14 inches. $39,500.Fine unpublished 1866 autograph letter written by Charles Darwin, answering the questions of an anonymous correspondent concerning editions of his landmark work, On the Origin of Species, boldly signed by him with his full name "Charles Darwin" (he often used "C." or "Ch." instead of his full given name). Beautifully framed with an early photgraphic card.The letter reads, in full: "Down Beckenham Kent, Dec. 17th. Dear Sir, Four editions of the Origin have appeared; that published last month is considerably added to & can be procured through any bookseller. I am glad to hear that you are interested in the subject. Dear sir, yours faithfully, Charles Darwin." In November Darwin had copies of the substantially revised and augmented fourth edition of the Origin sent to Huxley and Wallace, among others; their letters acknowledging receipt and praising the new edition are dated November 11 and November 19, respectively. The mourning stationery reflects the death of Darwin's sister, Susan Elizabeth Darwin, in October; another sister, Emily Catherine Langton, had died in January that year. See "Darwin in letters, 1866; Survival of the Fittest," Darwin Correspondence Project (online). Darwin Correspondence Project 5310F (summary only). Very faint fold marks. Darwin's full signature bold and fine. Letters in which Darwin discusses his landmark work are particularly scarce and desirable. Signed.