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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Gerald Yorke
Hotel Foyet Paris
16/3/28 e.v. [16 March 1928]
Dear Yorke,
93.
Many thanks for your letter of no date.
I need not say how glad I am of your decision to get out Book 4 Part III [Magick in Theory and Practice].
At the same time, I think it might be arranged more easily than by personal sacrifices on your part. Could not Foreman [N. J. N. Foreman] get some booksellers to subscribe for a private edition, limited, to say 300 copies. Reserving the right to reissue say 6 months later on cheaper paper, etc etc.
The trouble about the Cefalù diaries—and all other MSS, is that any day now there may be nothing to edit!
Mrs. W[alker] (since you know the name already) did not let me down about the rent. But she promised her personal presence and assistance in the big task of sorting out the papers etc. and has put me off on transparently insincere excuses. (There are 3 cases still unopened and 10 or 11 more to come from Italy!)
The upshot is that a flimsy lock is all that stands between the bulk of my life's work and a demented (I use this word with full medical responsibility. The dementia is partial.) female, who may at any moment set fire to the house—which would damage the lock! In any case the lease expires on April 11. And we shall be once again without a G.H.Q. [Grand Headquarters] with everything in storage—if indeed we can get it to that storage.
There are moments when one wants to kick everything to hell. If I had not other people to work for, I wouldn't lift a finger again as long as I live!
The only way out (unless Pickfords come across suddenly) is to raise at least £500 on a short term loan—say one year—With this we could take a suitable house—even pay for it by taking in people all summer—store the stuff properly—arrange to sell the pictures etc etc.
The nuisance is that the lack of working capital compels me to live by dint of various expensive expedients.
(E.g. if I could be sure of £25 every month I could live well within that margin. Without it, I cannot live on twice that sum; because I have to use credit and waste time etc etc. So though I'm getting more money than I need, it will only buy less than I need. Solely because of the uncertainty of the dates. And oh! the waste of time!
"The Magician"[1] has been released in France. I am applying for an injunction to prevent them showing it. This I can get easily; and, fortified with the decision, can sue for damages in England and U.S.A. where it has been running for years.
But I propose to compromise with Metro-Goldwyn on the basis of their giving me a fat contract as their Tame Magus. Through this I could get educative Magical films on the screen, and do lots and lots to help the Work.
Also, there's a whole bill of publicity, and my long-sought-for chance of vindication.
It's the Dreyfus problem: it only needs a little judicious management to transform The Beast overnight into Prince Charming.
To put this over, and to protect the MSS for the time being, are the two essential and urgent problems of the moment.
The middle of Marengo.
93 93/93.
Fraternally,
666.
1—[Refers to Somerset-Maugham's book The Magician and the subsequent movie based on it.]
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