DARWIN AND HIS PUBLISHER 541 



will I dwell on the facts concerning the publication of the 

 Climbing Plants and the Variation of Animals and Plants under 

 Domestication, except to note that each was accompanied by the 

 same modest appreciation of his own work on the part of the 

 author, and the same courtesy in approaching his publisher. 



We now come to the Descent of Man. Incomplete copies 

 of this work were shown at the Sale Dinner in 1870, and 1,939 

 were ordered by the trade, but the book was not ready for 

 publication till March 1871. The first edition of 2,500, as well 

 as two further editions of 2,000 each, were sold out before the 

 end of that year. 



Capital review in the Saturday R. (writes Darwin), good 

 notice in Pall Mall, and contemptuous as usual in Athenaeum ; 

 but how dull and ignorant a man the writer of the last article 

 must be ! 



In March 1871 he was " astonished at the sale of his book." 



The Expression of the Emotions depended more than any of 

 the other books on the illustrations; but in 1872 the art of 

 photographic reproduction was in its infancy, and the greatest 

 difficulty was experienced in obtaining good impressions of 

 the pictures. Had the facilities which now exist been available 

 then, the book might have been greatly improved, but the 

 original photographs have been lost or have perished, and the 

 work remains as it first appeared. On November 11, 1872, we 

 read, " I am quite delighted, and more astonished than you can 

 be, at the sale of the Expression book." Seven thousand copies 

 were sold in the first year. 



A reference to one more book shall be my last. One day, 

 early in 1881, I was with my father in his room, when Mr. 

 Darwin came in, and after some conversation, said : " Mr. Murray, 

 I have brought you another book. It represents a good many 

 years of hard work, and has proved of great interest to me, but 

 I doubt very much whether it will interest the public, as the 

 subject is not an attractive one. It is Earthworms." 



Of this book 3,079 copies were sold at the dinner in November, 

 and within a year seven editions had been called for. 



I was told a few days ago by a friend, that he was in a pro- 

 vincial town in England when Darwin's name was mentioned. 

 " Oh," said a local man who was present, " is not he the author 

 who writes about Earthworms ? " This would seem to show 



