Letter written by Charles Darwin

Autograph Letter Signed, to the publisher [William H.?] Appleton, thanking him for sending a copy of Fremont's Report of the Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, giving news of his family and a mutual acquaintance, and on the publication of Robert James MacKintosh's collected works of Sir James MacKintosh. 3 pages, folded 8vo sheet. Down, 31 March [1846?]

"I was much surprised a few days since by receiving your kind present of Fremont's Expedition, - a work of which I had seen extracts & had been for some time wishing to read, so that it is a most desirable present in itself & I feel very much gratified at your kind remembrance of us. Mrs. Darwin & the children are all very well & we are leading our usual quiet life in our quiet village of Down . . . Robert has at last finished his collected work of Sir James, & I am delighted to hear that they are likely to sell well; it always has appeared to be rather a hazardous undertaking in a money point of view . . ." Appleton published editions of Fremont's Expedition in 1846 and 1849 and Darwin's Journal of the HMS Beagle in 1845.

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