skip to content

Darwin Correspondence Project

To B. W. Richardson   14 March 1879

Down, | Beckenham, Kent. | Railway Station | Orpington. S.E.R.

Mar 14. 79

My dear Sir,

Several years ago you told me that you had thought of writing a life of Eras Darwin.1 An interesting sketch of his life by E. Krause had just appeared in ‘Kosmos’; & the author tells me that he means to enlarge it a little & publish it separately.2 He wants more materials, & if you have any which are useless to yourself, do you feel inclined to lend them to me for Krause’s use?

I am more especially interested on this head, because my brother & I intend to have a translation published.3

Pray forgive me for troubling you & believe me | Yours faithfully | Charles Darwin

Footnotes

No letter from Richardson mentioning a plan to write a biography of Erasmus Darwin has been found.
See letter from Ernst Krause, 12 March 1879; Krause’s sketch of the life of Erasmus Darwin had appeared in Kosmos in February 1879 (Krause 1879a).

Bibliography

Krause, Ernst. 1879a. Erasmus Darwin, der Großvater und Vorkämpfer Charles Darwin’s: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Descendenz-Theorie. Kosmos 4 (1878–9): 397–424.

Summary

Remembers that BWR had planned to write a life of Erasmus Darwin. Ernst Krause now intends to enlarge his Erasmus Darwin; would welcome any information or material.

Letter details

Letter no.
DCP-LETT-11934
From
Charles Robert Darwin
To
Benjamin Ward Richardson
Sent from
Down
Source of text
Royal College of Physicians of London (ALS/D10)
Physical description
LS 2pp

Please cite as

Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 11934,” accessed on 10 May 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-11934.xml

letter