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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Gerald Yorke
London
July 15th, 1929
Care Frater,
93,
Our friends arrived on Sunday morning and we have been very busy ever since seeing London in all its aspects.
I am enclosing a duplicate of the proposed preliminary contract. Germer [Karl Germer] was very favorably impressed, especially by Goldston [Edward Goldston]. But with my morbid pessimism I took the thing down to Steadman, Van Praagh, and Gaylor of 4 Old Burlington Street. (These were the lawyers that fought the case against Mathers [MacGregor Mathers] on Equinox I, 3 and won.) I could only see the managing clerk Mr. Lloyd; but he impressed me as exceptionally shrewd, and he pointed out in general the contract on the surface tied me up completely for a long period, while not binding them at all to any specific performance. But (as the Qabalah would say) this is a contract which is not a contract, because it refers to imaginary animals such as supplementary contracts, which may never exist; so that there is really no compensation, and it seems doubtful whether the whole thing might not be null and void.
There is also the objection that paintings should not be included in publishing contracts.
There are several minor details which can no doubt easily be remedied.
There is also the important consideration which made me send you my hysterical telegram of this afternoon. In any case, I must say that it seems to me that a contract of such far reaching efforts should be settled by a conference between their solicitors and ours.
I further think that we should show no undue anxiety in grabbing the bait. The enclosed slip appears to me one of Mr. Stevensen's best imaginative efforts.
Germer wants to get off to Leipzig as quickly as he can, and naturally I do not want to keep him hanging about. It is a great misfortune that you are away. But it might help if you would send us a fairly full telegram, saying what you think of this letter.
I do not for one moment impute sinister intentions or financial disabilities to these mandragorers; but as consistent neglect of the commonest business precautions has reduced me to my present condition of complete destitution and misery (I start selling matches to-morrow morning without even a hawker's permit, so that I may sleep in jug) I think it is time to reform.
93 93/93
Yours fraternally.
666.
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