[Letter] 1877 March 7, Kent [to] Messrs. Smith & Elder, London / Charles Darwin.

See also other letters in the collection from Charles Darwin.

Darwin states that Balliere would like to do a French translation of his _Coral Reefs_ which he would be glad to see. He inquires as to the cost of stereotypes of the woodcuts and 500 copies of the maps already colored. Since Balliere's decision to publish the book will be driven by the expense, Darwin hopes that "you will not charge much more than the cost price." In a postscript he considers whether the maps will do after all, since they have English names. The work Darwin is referencing here is his _The structure and distribution of coral reefs; being the first part of the geology of the voyage of the Beagle, under the command of Capt. Fitzroy, R.N. during the years 1832 to 1836_ (1842), the first work in a trilogy focused on the geology of South America. Darwin's speculations about evolution and natural selection in his _Origin of the Species_ (1859) and _The Descent of Man_ (1871) were published and widely discussed during his lifetime.