| Description: |
From the auction description: "1 1/2 pages, 327 x 201mm (verso text cancelled in pencil by Charles Darwin, water staining affecting the bottom two inches of the leaf though not affecting legibility). Provenance: Henrietta Litchfield (1843-1927), Darwin's daughter; a letter dated 31 July [18]92 identifies her father's hand and asks to be remembered to Monsieur Fournier [also referencing the following lot].
A draft leaf for Darwin's 1862 'Orchid book', showing variation from the published text; presented to the recipient by Darwin's daughter Henrietta Litchfield. The text on the recto in the hand of an amanuensis for pp. 114-115 of On the various contrivances…, opening '…the pollinia had been removed by insects' and closing 'In the rostellum being supported…' with three interlinear annotations in Darwin's hand (line 8: '*a'; line 9: 'like that in the Ophreæ; and'; and line 11: 'likewise as in the Ophreæ'). The verso with 5 lines in Darwin's hand: 'in which the nucleus projects from the testa in the ovules of a lately expanded flower shows the affinity of Goodyera to Epipactis. With respect to this structure in Epipactis see R. Brown's remarks in Linnean Transactions vol. 16 p.703'."
£10,080 |
