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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Karl Germer
Aquila Press, 3 All Souls Place, W. 1.
May 19th. 1930.
Dear Karl,
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
Your letter of May 16th reached me Saturday morning. I should certainly write to Adela at once. What we want is the contract.
I don't think you understand about the Mandrake [Mandrake Press] and the Aquila [Press]. The Aquila is in no need of manuscripts or copyrights. My idea for Adela, for example, was to turn it over to Thynne [Major Robert Thynne] at a price. Roughly speaking, there is a sort of unwritten friendly agreement, if manuscripts come the way of the Mandrake which they think would be unsuitable for them but would suit us, they will send them on and vice versa. The two presses cover such different fields that I cannot imagine any difficulty.
As I said in my last, you should certainly come to London with Krumm-Heller [Arnold Krum-Heller]. Your advise will be very valuable, especially with regard to the reconstruction of the Aquila. At present we are so deep in that we have got to go on and win through, whether we like it or not. The only difficulty with Thynne is that he would like the Aquila so very much that he would like to swallow it wholesale. And as we want to use this place for Headquarters, he cannot be allowed to do that. We must have a business arrangement with him, and I think you will be able to help me in proposing one. He is quite a reasonable man once he has finished shooting off his mouth. I don't think you should ask for your expenses. It looks bad because you are in the position of one of the capitalists, but in any case it would be very foolish to bring Cora [Cora Germer] along, much as we should all like to see the dear girl. The reason is that we are going to have one hell of a time with all sorts of difficult conferences and the last thing we want is the agreeable distraction which Cora's presence would afford. We shall be running after her and neglecting our business. It is with the sternest sense of renunciation that I pen these fatal words.
The lawyers are still holding up the agreement, but that is rather a good thing, as I do not really want to sign before that cash arrives from New York. It won't do to be short at the very start. However, my original backer is dining with me tonight, and I have engaged my pet siren to sing to him about the enormous profits to be made in this concern.
This is a true song, too. The business could easily have been made to pay before I ever come along if they had made good use of the opportunities of the premises. The trouble was that the people were, as they said themselves, a family party. All the business done was done by mail order, and all Mrs. Henderson's really remarkable talents and her excellent social connections were simply wasted. She is very competent at routine, but at the same time she should have as little of it to attend to as possible. I have got in a sales manager named Bang, or something like it. Any how, he was 20 years or more with Heineman, and appears to be a German; another reason why I want you to come over is that you may talk to him. We want also to consult with Yorke [Gerald Yorke] and Mrs. Henderson about the general problems of the staff, and even the question of the office. If we have several hundred people coming in here every day to look at pictures, it is going to be hard to carry on the office routine.
Let me give you an idea of the premises. Apart from the upstairs which is rather elastic, there is a great hall with long walls hardly broken, admirably suited for a gallery. Then there are folding doors and a smaller room, which is at present a sort of outer office. Another folding door at right angles leads to the inner office. A delightful room, with a double skylight. Here, too, we are going to hang pictures. The square is filled up by rooms for the three printing presses, and a machine for lithographing is at present installed in the kitchen. In a way, large as the premises are, they are already crowded. The big hall serves as a show room for the books.
The problem is of course how to have people come in as they do to booksellers, and this can be done by the use of social means, such as Eagletail parties, and by the gallery.
We have made enquiries of several galleries in town and are going to charge 30 guineas a week for rent; advertising, circularizing, etc. all have to be paid for extra. We have engaged a man named Hanchant [Wilfred Hanchant], the editor of ARTS AND CRAFTS, a paper which died owing to his quarrelling with his publishers over the D. H. Lawrence exhibition. He seems an extremely competent man and will, I think, bring in artists all year round, and also arrange for the publicity. He has good relations with the Press and a number of artists. He is rather expensive. He wants a permanent job at 5 guineas a week, and I suppose some commission on any pictures sold through him. I have not made any definite arrangement with him, and it would be a good thing if you could give us your advice when you see how things stand.
I have instructed Mr. Bang to get out a budget of our probable expenses for the next 8 months.
A very curious thing happened the other day. The people who forced the Aquila into my outstretched arms were the binders. They wanted to take it over them selves, and were prepared to give another thousand pounds worth of credit. The printer was also willing to advance a similar sum. The objection was that there was no cash in their offer. I think their idea was to induce [?] to put up a few more thousands. This would have been a perfectly good plan. Burns' financial manager, Mr. Lloyd, had a great reputation for reconstructing companies. He came down to see me last week to demand the £300 owed to him by the Aquila. I asked people what sort of man he was, and they were very gloomy. They said he was a stern business man, with a great sense of reality, and no poetry in him. The kind of capitalist indeed that the Bolshevik dreams of after lobster. He appeared in his majesty, and I came to meet him trembling, and he turned out to be an old disciple from before the war! So we fraternized, and he is lunching with me on Wednesday, when I shall try to get him to take a personal interest in the business on the real grounds.
As I think I explained to you, I did not want the business at all. I wanted the Headquarters. The place is ideal for that in every respect. This, then, represents the first chance I have had since the outbreak of the War to put the Great Work over on the outside world, and the chances are, I think, excellent. Such people as I have met so far seem to like me very much, and sooner or later I shall be able to take up the Work where I left it 16 years ago, but with all the added experience. The one thing that worries me is that we may be strangled at birth. We must make up the capital to £10,000 somehow or other. The point is that people are pressing us not at all because they want their money, but because they want the place seeing how good a thing it is. Both Burns and Thynne are furious with me for snapping it up under their noses. It was a heroic gesture, and the next thing will be to commission a sculptor to make, as an Irishman might say, an equestrian statue of me riding an eagle.
Love is the love, love under will.
Yours fraternally
P.S. In one of my copies of 777, the music scale is given.
P.S. 88. I am writing to Cora by the mail before this suggestion that she should ask Marie [Maria de Miramar] to stay with her while you are away. I would like this very much because they ought to know each other better and get to like each other. There was naturally some friction at Knockholt because we were all as upset and uncomfortable, but now that things are more settled it should be easier.
666.
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