ALS signed “Ch. Darwin,” one page, 5 x 8, Down, Beckenham, Kent letterhead, November 10, 1874. Handwritten letter to the French anthropologist and historian Alexis Giraud-Teulon, in full: “I am much obliged to you for your kindness in having sent your ‘Origins de la Famille.’ The subject is a most interesting one, & as soon as I have finished two books which I am now reading, I will commence with yours. With much respect & my best thanks.” In fine condition.
On the same date that Darwin sent this letter to Giraud-Teulon, the former likewise wrote a brief letter to Scottish lawyer and social anthropologist John Ferguson McLennan, informing him that 'Giraud-Teulon has sent me his Les Origines de la Famille just published. I have not read it, but can see that it relates to your subject. I will send it, if you care to see it on the chance.' An interesting association piece given how the title of Giraud-Teulon's book seems to have been inspired by Darwin's 1859 classic On the Origin of Species; moreover, the book in question, The Origins of the Family, is nearly the exact same title as an 1884 work by German philosopher Friedrich Engels, entitled The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State. Both works by Giraud-Teulon and Engels are regarded as some of the earliest major works on family economics.
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