Alfred Russel Wallace - Letters and Reminiscences
By
James Marchant
With Two Photogravures and Eight Half-tone Plates
IN TWO VOLUMES
Volume I
CASSELL AND COMPANY, LTD
London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne
1916
To the Memory of
ANNIE WALLACE
PREFACE
These two volumes consist of a selection from severalthousands of letters entrusted to me by the Wallace familyand dating from the dawn of Darwinism to the seconddecade of the twentieth century, supplemented by suchbiographical particulars and comments as are required forthe elucidation of the correspondence and for giving movementand continuity to the whole.
The wealth and variety of Wallace's own correspondence,excluding the large collection of letters which he receivedfrom many eminent men and women, and the necessity forsomewhat lengthy introductions and many annotations, haveexpanded the work to two (there was, indeed, enough goodmaterial to make four) volumes. The family has given meunstinted confidence in using or rejecting letters and reminiscences,and although I have consulted scientific andliterary friends, I alone must be blamed for sins of omissionor commission. Nothing has been suppressed in theunpublished letters, or in any of the letters which appearin these volumes, because there was anything to hide.Everything Wallace wrote, all his private letters, couldbe published to the world. His life was an open book—"noweakness, no contempt, dispraise, or blame, nothingbut well and fair."
The profoundly interesting and now historic correspondencebetween Darwin and Wallace, part of whichhas already appeared in the "Life and Letters of CharlesDarwin" and "More Letters," and part in Wallace's autobiography,entitled "My Life," is here published, with newadditions, for the first time as a whole, so that the readernow has before him the necessary material to form a trueestimate of the origin and growth of the theory of NaturalSelection, and of the personal relationships of its noble co-discoverers.
My warmest thanks are offered to Sir Francis Darwinfor permission to use his father's letters, for his annotations,and for rendering help in checking the typescript ofthe Darwin letters; to Mr. John Murray, C.V.O., for permissionto use letters and notes from the "Life and Lettersof Charles Darwin" and from "More Letters"; toMessrs. Chapman and Hall for their great generosity inallowing the free use of letters and material in Wallace's"My Life"; to Prof. E.B. Poulton, Prof. Sir W.F.Barrett, Sir Wm. Thiselton-Dyer, Dr. Henry Forbes, andothers for letters and reminiscences; and to Prof. Poultonfor reading the proofs and for valuable suggestions. Anintimate chapter on Wallace's Home Life has been contributedby his son and daughter, Mr. W.G. Wallace andMiss Violet Wallace.
J.M.
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