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Correspondence from John Quinn to Aleister Crowley
Jany. 4, 1915.
Dear Mr. Crowley:
I have just a moment with reference to your telephone message to Mr. Watson at 11:15 today. Mr. Watson says that you telephoned that you had received my letter, that “there must be some misunderstanding”, and that you “simply must see me today”. Well you simply will not see me today. There seems to be a misunderstanding, but there is no misunderstanding on my part. I made no agreement to purchase any definite books of you or any books of you. You spoke to me one morning casually in front of my apartment on the street in regard to manuscripts. You said you would bring some over. I didn’t agree to buy any manuscripts even, one or any definite number.
I told you at the time I advanced you $500 that these times were hard, and that there was little sale for manuscripts. You never said that you were importing these books for sale to me. On the contrary, you told me that you were bringing them over to catalogue them, that many of them were vellum books, and that you wanted to show them to me. I did say that I might possibly buy one or so. But it was only “might possibly”. If what I said to you led you to a misunderstanding, then you would never be able to enter an art room or a picture gallery or a book store without committing one to buy pictures or books merely because the man in the gallery or book store said to one that he was going to send for such-and-such a thing or have such-and-such a thing and that he would like to show it to one and because one replied that he would be interested in seeing it.
I was surprised to find a case of books sent to my apartment last night without any previous notice to me. That put me to the inconvenience of calling my office this morning and having the office boy get a taxi and return them. Of course that box should not have been sent to my apartment without some notification to or instructions by me.
Yours very truly,
John Quinn
Aleister Crowley, Esq., 40 West 36th Street, New York City.
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