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Letter signed (‘Ch. Darwin’) to [Alfred Russel] Wallace, Down House, 3 August [1872].
细节
DARWIN, Charles Robert (1809-1882)
Letter signed (‘Ch. Darwin’) to [Alfred Russel] Wallace, Down House, 3 August [1872].
Two pages, 202 x 125 mm, printed letter-paper headed ‘Down, Beckenham, Kent’. In the hand of Emma Darwin. Laid down onto mount. Provenance: Waddington’s, Toronto, 9 July 1998, lot 662.
‘I hate controversy, chiefly perhaps because I do it badly’. Writing in defence of the theory of evolution by natural selection: a striking letter from Charles Darwin to Alfred Russel Wallace, his collaborator and friend, formulating a joint rebuttal to a critic. Vanishingly rare at auction: one of only three letters from Darwin to Wallace recorded as having sold internationally (ABPC/RBH). ‘I hate controversy, chiefly perhaps because I do it badly’, Darwin opens his letter to Wallace, continuing ‘but as Dr Bree accuses you of “blundering”, I have thought myself bound to send the enclosed letter to Nature; that is if you in the least desire it. In this case then post it – If you do not at all will it, I sh[oul]d rather prefer not sending it, & in this case please do tear it up – And I beg you to do the same, if you intend answering Dr Bree yourself, as you will do it incomparably better than I sh[oul]d. Also please do tear it up if you don’t like the letter’.
In the spring of 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to Charles Darwin, with whom he had recently entered into correspondence, enclosing an essay entitled ‘On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type’ that set out his newly-formulated theory of natural selection – one that, unbeknownst to Wallace, mirrored the very conclusions that Darwin had drawn following twenty years’ of research into the ‘species problem’, which he had shared with only a handful of confidantes. On the cusp of announcing his own discoveries, Darwin acted swiftly and decisively, setting the tone for the close, collaborative working relationship and, later, friendship that endured between the two titans of 19th-century British naturalism: on the advice of Lyell and Hooker, Wallace's paper was presented at the very next meeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858 along with two extracts from Darwin's unpublished writings on natural selection. A relationship that might easily have descended into bitter rivalry was thus set on a course of mutual support and recognition; Darwin wrote to Wallace the following spring praising his work, explaining in a slightly apologetic tone that he had been persuaded to publish on evolution before Wallace [in the Origin] against his initial judgement, adding: ‘We shall live to see all the younger men converts’ (6 April 1859). Opponents of Darwin and Wallace and their theory of evolution through natural selection were not in short supply over the following decades, from Richard Owen, Adam Sedgwick and St. George Jackson Mivart to members of the general public, and there is frequent mention in the correspondence of attacks against their position, from these men and others, often with a view to formulating a joint rebuttal: of Owen, Darwin wrote to Wallace that he anticipated his opposition to their views but ‘he is a poor reasoner’ (9 August 1859); on Mivart’s criticism, for example, he predicted ‘The pendulum will now swing against us’ (30 January 1871); while, shortly after the publication of the Origin, he worried ‘God knows what the public will think’ (13 November 1859).
In 1872, C.R. Bree (1811-1886; physician, ornithologist and zoologist) published An exposition of fallacies in the hypothesis of Mr. Darwin, an attack on Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. In short order, Wallace came to his friend’s defence, submitting a review of the work to Nature under the title ‘The Last Attack on Darwinism’ (25 July 1872 issue), in which he outlined Bree’s – rather numerous – errors; in a letter written shortly before this one, on 27 July 1872, Darwin congratulated Wallace on this ‘crushing’ review, continuing: ‘I have not seen the book itself […] But assuredly I did not suppose that anyone would have written such a mass of inaccuracies & rubbish’. The skirmish did not end there: Bree issued a rebuttal, defending his book against Wallace’s criticism, prompting Darwin to write the present letter to Wallace, strategising the defence of the theory Darwin once described as ‘completely your own and my child’ (27 March 1869). It has sometimes been supposed that a degree of professional rivalry crept into the relationship between Darwin and Wallace across the years, tainting their friendship: the present letter serves as resounding proof that this is untrue. Here, Darwin encloses a draft of a letter [not present] in support of Wallace, which would go on to be published in Nature on 8 August 1872, p. 279. Published DCP-LETT-8447.
Letter signed (‘Ch. Darwin’) to [Alfred Russel] Wallace, Down House, 3 August [1872].
Two pages, 202 x 125 mm, printed letter-paper headed ‘Down, Beckenham, Kent’. In the hand of Emma Darwin. Laid down onto mount. Provenance: Waddington’s, Toronto, 9 July 1998, lot 662.
‘I hate controversy, chiefly perhaps because I do it badly’. Writing in defence of the theory of evolution by natural selection: a striking letter from Charles Darwin to Alfred Russel Wallace, his collaborator and friend, formulating a joint rebuttal to a critic. Vanishingly rare at auction: one of only three letters from Darwin to Wallace recorded as having sold internationally (ABPC/RBH). ‘I hate controversy, chiefly perhaps because I do it badly’, Darwin opens his letter to Wallace, continuing ‘but as Dr Bree accuses you of “blundering”, I have thought myself bound to send the enclosed letter to Nature; that is if you in the least desire it. In this case then post it – If you do not at all will it, I sh[oul]d rather prefer not sending it, & in this case please do tear it up – And I beg you to do the same, if you intend answering Dr Bree yourself, as you will do it incomparably better than I sh[oul]d. Also please do tear it up if you don’t like the letter’.
In the spring of 1858, Alfred Russel Wallace wrote to Charles Darwin, with whom he had recently entered into correspondence, enclosing an essay entitled ‘On the tendency of varieties to depart indefinitely from the original type’ that set out his newly-formulated theory of natural selection – one that, unbeknownst to Wallace, mirrored the very conclusions that Darwin had drawn following twenty years’ of research into the ‘species problem’, which he had shared with only a handful of confidantes. On the cusp of announcing his own discoveries, Darwin acted swiftly and decisively, setting the tone for the close, collaborative working relationship and, later, friendship that endured between the two titans of 19th-century British naturalism: on the advice of Lyell and Hooker, Wallace's paper was presented at the very next meeting of the Linnean Society on 1 July 1858 along with two extracts from Darwin's unpublished writings on natural selection. A relationship that might easily have descended into bitter rivalry was thus set on a course of mutual support and recognition; Darwin wrote to Wallace the following spring praising his work, explaining in a slightly apologetic tone that he had been persuaded to publish on evolution before Wallace [in the Origin] against his initial judgement, adding: ‘We shall live to see all the younger men converts’ (6 April 1859). Opponents of Darwin and Wallace and their theory of evolution through natural selection were not in short supply over the following decades, from Richard Owen, Adam Sedgwick and St. George Jackson Mivart to members of the general public, and there is frequent mention in the correspondence of attacks against their position, from these men and others, often with a view to formulating a joint rebuttal: of Owen, Darwin wrote to Wallace that he anticipated his opposition to their views but ‘he is a poor reasoner’ (9 August 1859); on Mivart’s criticism, for example, he predicted ‘The pendulum will now swing against us’ (30 January 1871); while, shortly after the publication of the Origin, he worried ‘God knows what the public will think’ (13 November 1859).
In 1872, C.R. Bree (1811-1886; physician, ornithologist and zoologist) published An exposition of fallacies in the hypothesis of Mr. Darwin, an attack on Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. In short order, Wallace came to his friend’s defence, submitting a review of the work to Nature under the title ‘The Last Attack on Darwinism’ (25 July 1872 issue), in which he outlined Bree’s – rather numerous – errors; in a letter written shortly before this one, on 27 July 1872, Darwin congratulated Wallace on this ‘crushing’ review, continuing: ‘I have not seen the book itself […] But assuredly I did not suppose that anyone would have written such a mass of inaccuracies & rubbish’. The skirmish did not end there: Bree issued a rebuttal, defending his book against Wallace’s criticism, prompting Darwin to write the present letter to Wallace, strategising the defence of the theory Darwin once described as ‘completely your own and my child’ (27 March 1869). It has sometimes been supposed that a degree of professional rivalry crept into the relationship between Darwin and Wallace across the years, tainting their friendship: the present letter serves as resounding proof that this is untrue. Here, Darwin encloses a draft of a letter [not present] in support of Wallace, which would go on to be published in Nature on 8 August 1872, p. 279. Published DCP-LETT-8447.
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