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Correspondence from Charles Stansfeld Jones to Aleister Crowley
Apartment Eleven 307 Howard Street New number 1515) Detroit, Michigan.
November 20, 1920
My Beloved Father,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Yesterday your letter came telling me that you had secured the London Stock of Books and that you are going to arrange a campaign for their sale in England. This news makes all of us here very glad, I feel we have "O so much" to be thankful for. I am sorry I had not answered your previous letter, but there was little to be said at the time as I was really anxious to know how things were going to shape themselves in regard to the English stock before making any definite plan of action here. We haven't sold much lately but we've done very well under the circumstances. Thank you for your inventory of books, I wish I were in a position to return the compliment, but just for the time being we find it quite out of the question to make a detailed inventory of what is here, all that can be done, for the moment, is to give you a slight idea of what sort of stuff we have, and to keep a careful record of every book that is sold or brought away from our storeroom. This we have done very accurately. By far the greater portion of the books are Equinoxes. You will be glad to hear that we evidently hold the missing copies of [Equinox] Number Nine.
(Had the other sets fallen into wrong hands, we should still have held a sort of trump card). We have a considerable number of the Book of Lies, Quantities of Clouds without Water, Hail Mary, and The Whirlpool. (Would you like a couple of crates of Green Manifestos and Rosicrucian Scandals, in exchange for something?) We also have some Equinoxes in Sheets also some Amphora in sheet (5 very large cases). We have a nice number of Collected Works for this Market. Book Four Part One we had about 40 copies which are all sold. We had no part Two. We have just discovered about 20 copies of Chicago May (Poor Soror V[irakam] [Mary d'Este-Sturges].) We have a few copies of the following Star and the Garter, Sir Palamedes, Household Gods, Gargoyles, Goetia, Star in the West, History of a Soul. Quite a bunch of On the Loose. This practically covers the ground, I think, but there may be one or two other items, as though we looked into all cases we have not gone to the bottom of them, which reminds me, we came across about 10 or 15 White Stains. In regard to The Equinox I think we might safely say there are 60 sets, Brother Smith [Wilfred Talbot Smith] thinks there are more. Some of them are Edition De Luxe. We need, when you can arrange to send same, 100 each Book 4 Parts I and II. (at least). Ten or Fifteen each of the following. Konx Om Pax, 777, I'll write to Hanson [William Hanson] and let you know the results.
I really think these books would be best sold by means of lectures and a mail order business. We ourselves could do all the Work and save the big discount that would have to be given to a firm, furthermore the sales will advertise us instead of some outside concern. All that we need is to sell a few more books so as to clean up all expense to date. Then we can use money for advertising and if necessary get a better storeroom where we can get at books more easily. At present, it only costs us $5 a month but is very inconvenient. We do not want to increase overhead at present, also it costs about $50 every time we move the books.
Let us know if you intend to advertise, so that we may cooperate.
I think you should write a note to Ryerson [Albert W. Ryerson] saying his contract is now to be considered void as you intend to handle your own books. Don't make him sore. He doesn't know I have been selling any here (from his store). If you do this nicely I can handle him afterwards.
In haste, Love is the law, love under will.
Thy son,
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