6th Apr, 2022 10:00
Early Printed Books, Historical Autographs & Documents, Travel, Maps & Decorative Prints
Darwin (Charles Robert, 1809-1882). Letter signed, 'Ch. Darwin'
Estimated at £15,000 - £20,000Darwin (Charles Robert, 1809-1882). Letter signed, 'Ch. Darwin', Down, Bromley, Kent, S.E., 15 July [1866], to [Charles] Kingsley, written in the hand of Darwin’s wife Emma, thanking Kingsley for telling him where his lectures are published as ‘living in the country I might not have heard of their publication’, and that based on an abstract he saw in a newspaper he expects the lectures to much interest him, the rest of the letter being on the subject of the migrating eye in flatfish, ‘I can form no opinion about the wonderful case of the migration of the eye in flat-fish; whether Steenstrup is right who seems to think that the eye itself moves by absorption on one side and growth on the other; or whether Thompson [sic] is right who thinks that the eye itself does not move, but thinks that the adjoining parts are developed in a wonderfully unequal manner on the two sides of the head. The power of development on either side seems to me one of the most curious points of the case. When I read the paper I speculated how the unequal development c[oul]d have originated, and imagined that a fish feeding on the ground with its body held laterally might be benefited by the eye on the lower side becoming deeper and deeper imbedded in the skull, and instead of becoming blind and useless, travelling to the upper side, but this is all baseless speculation’, light creasing and one short split at upper margins, old tape adhesion marks at head and foot of first page (with some see-through) not affecting text, boldly signed ‘Ch. Darwin’ at foot of final page, 4 pages, 8vo
(Quantity: 1)
Provenance: By family descent from the estate of Lady Mary Colyer-Fergusson (1871-1964) of Ightham Mote, Kent; and gifted to her by Mary Harrison in 1930. Mary Harrison (1852-1931), novelist and daughter of Charles Kingsley. Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) novelist, Church of England clergyman, social reformer and science populariser.
An important, unpublished letter concerning the evolutionary problem of the migration of the eye in flatfish. It was written in response to the Rev. Kingsley's letter (12 July 1866), referring to the article by Charles Wyville Thomson, 'Notes on Prof. Steenstrup's views on the obliquity of flounders', published in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History for May 1865, in which Thomson gave an abstract, with commentary, of a paper by Japetus Steenstrup on the migration of the eye of flounders.
Kingsley's letter is published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 14 and at The Darwin Correspondence Project (DCP-LETT-5154], where it is noted that it was acquired from [Kingsley’s daughter] Mary Harrison in 1930 (as the letter offered here). 'The DCP do not have knowledge of Darwin's reply yet. The DCP do not have any letters from Darwin on the migration of eyes in flatfish’.
The two lectures delivered by Kingsley at the Royal institution that he draws Darwin’s attention to are ‘Superstition’ and ‘Science’, both published in Fraser’s Magazine, vol. 73, June 1866, pp. 705-16 & vol. 74, July 1866, pp. 15-28.
Charles Darwin and Kingsley began to correspond soon after the publication of Origin of Species in 1859. Kingsley was a great science populariser and, arguably, as important as ‘Darwin’s bulldog’ Thomas Huxley in promoting Darwin's ideas, in spite of his own theistic beliefs. Indeed, Kingsley was one of 90 men to whom Darwin had asked his publisher John Murray to send an advance copy of his work. Kingsley was quick to respond and told Darwin that from his familiarity with the breeding of domestic animals he was quite prepared to embrace its thesis of transmutation. He added that he found it ‘just as noble a conception of Deity, to believe that he created primal forms capable of self development… as to believe that he required a fresh act of intervention to supply the lacunas wh[ich] he himself had made. I question whether the former be not the loftier thought’ (Kingsley, letter to Darwin, 18 November 1859; DCP-LETT-2534). Darwin went on to add an edited version of Kingsley's remarks to the second edition of his book published in 1860.
Flatfishes are born with one eye on each side of their head, but undergo metamorphosis where one eye migrates to the other side of the fish's head to produce asymmetrical juvenile fishes. By the time the skull ossifies fully the eyes are permanently fixed in place. Opponents of Darwin’s theories insisted that this curious anatomy could not have evolved gradually through natural selection because there would be no apparent evolutionary advantage to a fish with a slightly asymmetrical skull but which retained eyes on opposite sides of the head. It was a problem Darwin puzzled over and one for which his critics took him to task.
One of Darwin’s fiercest critics was the British zoologist St George Jackson Mivart who drew attention to the flatfish as a challenge to evolution by natural selection: ’…if the transit [of the flatfish’s eye] was gradual, then how such transit of one eye a minute fraction of the journey towards the other side of the head could benefit the individual is indeed far from clear. It seems, even, that such an incipient transformation must rather have been injurious.’ Mivart, On the Genesis of Species, New York: D. Appleton, 1871, p. 50.
Darwin confronted Mivart’s arguments in the sixth edition of Origin of Species, published the following year in 1872. ‘But he [Mivart] might have found an answer to this objection in the excellent observations published in 1867 by Malm. The Pleuronectidae whilst very young and still symmetrical, with their eyes standing on opposite sides of the head, cannot long retain a vertical position, owing to the excessive depth of their bodies, the small size of their lateral fins, and to their being destitute of a swimbladder. Hence soon growing tired, they fall to the bottom on one side. Whilst thus at rest they often twist, as Malm observed, the lower eye upwards, to see above them; and they do this so vigorously that the eye is pressed hard against the upper part of the orbit. The forehead between the eyes consequently becomes, as could be plainly seen, temporarily contracted in breadth.’ Darwin gives a Lamarckian explanation for the gradual transit of the eye. ‘We thus see that the first stages of the transit of the eye from one side of the head to the other, which Mr. Mivart considers would be injurious, may be attributed to the habit, no doubt beneficial to the individual and to the species, of endeavouring to look upward with both eyes, while resting on one side at the bottom.’ Darwin finally proposes his ideas based on natural selection that ‘For all spontaneous variations in the right direction will thus be preserved; as will those individuals which inherit in the highest degree the effects of the increased and beneficial use of any part. How much to attribute in each particular case to the effects of use, and how much to natural selection, it seems impossible to decide.’ Darwin, Origin of Species, 6th edition, John Murray, 1872, pp. 168-170.
What Darwin really needed to support his theory though were flatfish fossils with examples of the intermediate condition. It was not until 2008 that Matt Friedman, a graduate student in the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago, drew attention to several examples of such transitional forms that he uncovered in museum collections of underwater fossilized creatures from Italy and France during the Eocene epoch, some 50 million years ago. Finally, here was Darwin’s proof that flatfish did evolve from bilateral ancestors. See D. Cressey, The eyes have it, Nature (9 July 2008).
Why flatfish, ‘the most asymmetrically-shaped vertebrate to ever live on earth’, evolved thus and how their eyes and inner ears function compared to other fish are subjects of ongoing research by flatfish experts and enthusiasts such as Alexander Schreiber at the Laboratory of Vertebrate Metamorphosis, St. Lawrence University.
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Auction: Early Printed Books, Historical Autographs & Documents, Travel, Maps & Decorative Prints, 6th Apr, 2022
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Dominic Winter (Auctioneers) Ltd
Conditions Of Sale And Business
Terms and Conditions of Sale
1. (a) Dominic Winter (Auctioneers) Ltd ("the Auctioneer") sells as agents for the seller (except where otherwise stated) and as such is not responsible for any default by buyer or seller.
(b) The Seller warrants to the Auctioneer and to the buyer that he is the true owner or is properly authorised to sell the property by the true owner and is able to transfer good and marketable title to the property free from any third party claims.
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(b) Where goods are bought at auction by a buyer who has entered into an agreement with another or others that the other or others (or some of them) shall abstain from bidding for the goods and the buyer or other party or one of the other parties is a dealer as defined in the Auctions (Bidding Agreements) Act 1927 and 1969 the buyer warrants that the goods are bought bona fide on a joint account.
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(i) Rescind the sale of that or any other lots sold to the buyer who defaults and re-sell the lot or lots whereupon the defaulting buyer shall pay to the Auctioneer any shortfall between the proceeds of that sale after deduction of costs or re-sale and the total sum due. Any surplus shall belong to the seller.
(ii) Proceed for damages for breach of contract.
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(b) Where any lot fails to sell, the Auctioneer shall notify the seller accordingly. The seller shall make arrangements either to re-offer the lot for sale or to collect the lot and may be asked to pay a commission not exceeding 50% of the selling commission and any special expenses incurred in cataloguing the lot.
(c) If such arrangements are not made within seven days of the notification the Auctioneer is empowered to sell the lot without reserve by auction or by private treaty and to receive from the seller the normal selling commission and special expenses.
7. Any representation or statement by the Auctioneer in any catalogue, brochure or advertisement of forthcoming sales as to authorship, attribution, genuineness, origin, date, age, provenance, condition or estimated selling price is a statement of opinion only. Every person interested should exercise and rely on his own judgement as to such matters and neither the Auctioneer nor his servants or agents are responsible for the correctness of such opinions. No warranty whatsoever is given by the Auctioneer or the seller in respect of any lot and any express or implied warranties are hereby excluded.
8. (a) Notwithstanding any other terms of these conditions, if within fourteen days of the sale the Auctioneer has received from the buyer of any lot notice in writing that in his/her view the lot is a deliberate forgery and within fourteen days after such notification the buyer returns the same to the Auctioneer in the same condition as at the time of the sale and satisfies the Auctioneer that considered in the light of the entry in the catalogue the lot is a deliberate forgery then the sale of the lot will be rescinded and the purchase price of the same refunded. "A deliberate forgery" means a lot made with intention to deceive.
(b) A buyer's claim under this condition shall be limited to any amount paid to the Auctioneer for the lot and for the purpose of this condition the buyer shall be the person to whom the original invoice was made out by the Auctioneer.
9. Lots may be removed during the sale after full settlement in accordance with 4.d. hereof.
10. All goods delivered to the Auctioneer's premises will be deemed to be delivered for sale by auction unless otherwise stated in writing and will be catalogued and sold at the Auctioneer's discretion and accepted by the Auctioneer subject to all these conditions. In the case of miscellaneous books, maps and other items, the Auctioneer reserves the right to extract and dispose of items that, in the opinion of the Auctioneer at his absolute discretion, have no saleable value and, therefore, might detract from the saleability of the rest of the lot and the Auctioneer shall incur no liability to the seller in respect of the items disposed of. By delivering the goods to the auctioneer for inclusion in his auction sales each seller acknowledges that he/she accepts and agrees to all the conditions.
11. (a) Unless otherwise instructed in writing, all goods on the Auctioneer's premises and in his custody will be held insured against the risk of fire, burglary, water damage and accidental breakage or damage. The value of the goods so covered will be the hammer price, or in the case of unsold lots the lower estimate, or in the case of loss or damage prior to the sale that which the specialist staff of the Auctioneer shall in their absolute discretion estimate to be the auction value of such goods.
(b) The Auctioneer shall not be responsible for damage to or the loss, theft, or destruction of any goods not so insured because of the seller's written instructions whether caused by negligence or otherwise.
(c) Any liability of the Auctioneer for any claim arising from loss or damage of any kind in respect of goods whether caused by negligence or otherwise including any claims for compensation will be limited to the amount of insurance cover effected in accordance with the provisions of clause 11.a. above.
12. The Auctioneer shall remit the proceeds of the sale to the seller thirty days after the date of the auction provided that the Auctioneer has received the total sum due from the buyer. In all other cases the Auctioneer will remit the proceeds of the sale to the seller within seven days of the receipt by the Auctioneer of the total sum due. The Auctioneer will not be deemed to have received the total sum due until after any funds received from the buyer have cleared. In the event of the Auctioneer exercising his right to rescind the sale his obligation to the seller hereunder lapses.
13. In the case of the seller withdrawing instructions to the Auctioneer to sell any lot or lots, the Auctioneer may charge the seller a fee of 12.5% of the Auctioneer's middle estimate of the auction price of the lot withdrawn together with Value Added Tax thereon and any expenses incurred in respect of the lot or lots.
14. If, on collation, any named items in the catalogue prove defective, in text or illustration, the buyer may reject the lot provided he/she returns it within fourteen days stating the defect in writing. This however will not apply in the case of unnamed items, periodicals, autograph letters, manuscripts, music, maps, atlases, prints or drawings, nor in respect of damage to bindings, stains, foxing, marginal wormholes or other defects not affecting the completeness of the text, nor in respect of lack of list of plates, inserted advertisements, cancels or subsequently published volumes, supplements, appendices or plates or error in the enumerating of the plates, nor in respect of defects mentioned in the catalogue or announced at the time of sale.
15. The Auctioneer accepts no responsibility in connection with the commissioning of his staff to bid for any lots. Reserves, and commission bids given by telephone are accepted only at the sender's risk and must be confirmed in writing before the date of the sale. Lots will always be bought as cheaply as is allowed by other bids and such reserves as are on our books.
16. Buyers are advised that a storage charge of £1.00 per lot per day plus Value Added Tax at the current rate will be levied on all purchases not cleared within fourteen working days of the sale. After this period the buyer will be responsible for loss or damage.
17. Artist's Resale Rights ("Droit de Suite"). Lots marked with "AR" or another appropriate symbol and referenced as such in the catalogue are subject to the Artist's Resale Right law. The buyer agrees to pay the Auctioneer an amount equal to the resale royalty and the Auctioneer will pay such amount to the artist's collecting agent. Resale royalty applies where the Hammer Price is 1,000 Euro or more and the amount cannot be more than 12,500 Euro per lot.
The amount is calculated as follows:
Royalty For the portion of the Hammer Price (in Euro)
4.00% up to 50,000
3.00% between 50,000.01 and 200,000
1.00% between 200,000.01 and 350,000
0.50% between 350,000.01 and 500,000
0.25% in excess of 500,000
Invoices will be issued in Pounds Sterling. For the purposes of calculating the resale royalty the Pounds Sterling/Euro rate of exchange will be the European Central Bank reference rate on the day of the sale. Please refer to the DACS website www.dacs.org.uk for further details.
18. These conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with English Law.
Buyer's Premium :
The buyer's premium is 20%, except those lots asterisked (*) in the title for which Value Added Tax (VAT) will be added to the premium, resulting in a buyer's premium of 24% inclusive of VAT. Eligible items include manuscripts, prints, photographs, drawings, framed maps, paintings, pens and other objects which are subject to VAT at a rate of 20% on the buyer's premium as part of the Auctioneers Margin Scheme. VAT zero-rated items such as books, unframed maps and albums are not subject to VAT on the buyer's premium.
Live Auction Charges
An additional commission of 3% plus VAT (3.6% inclusive of VAT) on the hammer price is payable if you use the live auction bidding facility on the Dominic Winter Auctioneers website (dominicwinter.co.uk). This charge will be added to your invoice automatically.
An additional commission of 4.95% plus VAT (5.94% inclusive of VAT) on the hammer price is payable if you use the live auction bidding facility on the ATG Media website (the-saleroom.com). This charge will be added to your invoice automatically.
An additional commission of 3% plus VAT (3.6% inclusive of VAT) on the hammer is payable if you use the live auction bidding facility on the Invaluable website (invaluable.com). This charge will be added to your invoice automatically.
Payment (UK Buyers)
Payment is preferred by direct Bank Transfer to our bank account. Our bank details will be supplied to you with your invoice.
Payment can be made in cash at the Cashier's Office, either during or after the sale. Alternatively, you can pay by cheque (Pounds Sterling only), please allow 5 working days for the cheque to clear before collection of goods.
Credit or Debit Card payments will not be accepted by telephone unless by prior arrangement with the auctioneers. Card payments can be made in person at our premises but must be accompanied by relevant ID confirming address details. We do not accept payments by American Express.
Payment (Overseas Buyers)
Payment must be made by direct Bank Transfer to our bank account. Our bank details will be supplied to you on your invoice. No card payments will be accepted unless by special prior arrangements with the auctioneers. All transfers must state the relevant invoice number. The amount we receive must be the total due after currency conversion and the deduction of any bank charges (normally £7).
UK Shipping
We are not specialist shippers. Some items, such as framed & glazed or fragile goods, will require specialist handling and buyers will be asked to use Mailboxes or RF Shipping Ltd. (details below).
For non-fragile items and items of reasonably small size, we offer an in-house packing and shipping facility for UK buyers. When possible, purchases will be sent by either Royal Mail Special Delivery or DPD overnight service. The charge for this service is variable (£15 minimum per parcel) and will be added to your invoice. Please note shipments to the Highlands and Islands may require shipment by courier and may be more expensive. Please contact us for a quote before bidding.
For larger packages and fragile goods, we recommend Mailboxes, Pack & Send or RF Shipping Ltd who will collect fully paid-for purchases from us twice a week and liaise with the buyer direct. For more information please contact Sarah Ball by telephone on +44 (0)1285 860006 or email sarah@dominicwinter.co.uk. These companies will require payment direct for their services.
