![DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ("Charles Robert Darwin") to [Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), founder and editor of Nature, Down, Beckenham, Kent, 24 February, n.y. [1870s]. 1 page, 8vo. Fine condition.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2003/NYR/2003_NYR_01318_0086_000(070525).jpg?w=1)
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DARWIN, Charles (1809-1882). Autograph letter signed ("Charles Robert Darwin") to [Joseph Norman Lockyer (1836-1920), founder and editor of Nature, Down, Beckenham, Kent, 24 February, n.y. [1870s]. 1 page, 8vo. Fine condition.
Darwin modestly consents to the publication of certain letters between himself and Pieter Harting, a noted Dutch zoologist, as long as it is made clear that their publication was not his idea. "I shall feel pleasure & honored if Mr. Lockyer thinks the correspondence worth inserting in Nature. But in this case I earnestly hope that it will be stated that Prof. Harting has sent it you, for it wd. have been intolerable vanity in me to have sent it. My name is as below, but generally I drop to R..."
Professor Pieter Harting (1812-1885), a zoologist and microscopist, was an early supporter of Darwin's evolutionary theories; he is quoted by Darwin in The Descent of Man, Chapter 17, on secondary sexual characteristics of Mammals. It is extremely rare for Darwin to sign a letter with his full name, as he has done here.
Darwin modestly consents to the publication of certain letters between himself and Pieter Harting, a noted Dutch zoologist, as long as it is made clear that their publication was not his idea. "I shall feel pleasure & honored if Mr. Lockyer thinks the correspondence worth inserting in Nature. But in this case I earnestly hope that it will be stated that Prof. Harting has sent it you, for it wd. have been intolerable vanity in me to have sent it. My name is as below, but generally I drop to R..."
Professor Pieter Harting (1812-1885), a zoologist and microscopist, was an early supporter of Darwin's evolutionary theories; he is quoted by Darwin in The Descent of Man, Chapter 17, on secondary sexual characteristics of Mammals. It is extremely rare for Darwin to sign a letter with his full name, as he has done here.