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Correspondence from Fernando Pessoa to The Mandrake Press
Apartado 147 Lisboa
12-9-1930.
41, Museum Street, London, W.C.1.
Dear Sirs:
I received about a fortnight ago the prospectuses you recently issued in respect both, generally, of your forthcoming publications, and, particularly, of those written by, or relating to, Mr. Aleister Crowley, including the third volume of his Confessions, which I have been awaiting with great interest for a long time and hope will be sent me—under registered post, as usual—as soon as it is issued.
That interest has increased, and a great pleasure has been given me, by the arrival here of Mr. Crowley himself. The purpose of the present letter is, indeed, to develop some points which have arisen in conversation with him.
Substantially, the points are three:
(1) the issue by you, in England, of translations of strange or unknown Portuguese authors whose works may be potentially of interest to the English reading public;
(2) the establishment of a branch of your firm here in Portugal, mainly for the setting-up of works in English which there might be trouble or great expense in setting-up in England, the mere matrices or cast being sent to you for printing; and
(3) the possible extension of that branch to the issue of limited or the like editions in Portuguese, to include the translation of Mr. Crowley's Confessions and of other books to be decided upon, in accordance with the "acceptance" of the Portuguese reading public, which is limited in number, and of the Brazilian reading public, which is less limited.
This summary contains practically the whole case, but it will be of advantage to bring in a few comments to elucidate the three points.
(1) I have suggested to Mr. Crowley that the works translated from the Portuguese which could conceivably interest the English public are:
(a) translations from the old Portuguese Song-Books and Romances of Chivalry, which are the very beginning of European literature, and, both as such, and by their own virtue and flavour, would find a fairly large public, as such things go, in Britain and America.
(b) translations from those recent Portuguese authors who offer a distinct novelty of thought and emotion and would therefore find a public anywhere—though perhaps a limited public—if presented in the proper way, in small books or booklets, not necessarily cheap in respect of their size, but distinctly so in respect of the price in itself; (c) translations from those Portuguese authors who, without literary novelty, properly such, present aspects which are nevertheless, and otherwise, compelling—strange fancies like The Mandarin by Eca de Queiros, or scandalous masterpieces (in their own kind) like Abel Botelho's The Baron of Lavos, which is the completest and most brutal study of paederasty which, to my knowledge, has ever been written.
In connection with these, though not of the same order, because not translations, Mr. Crowley suggested that I publish, if in any way practicable or desirable, some poems of mine in English; these are the ones contained in the two booklets I once sent you, excluding the part called Inscriptions and adding a poem which, with Antinous and Epithalamium, would make a significant triad. To the book—or, rather, booklet—formed by these three poems Mr. Crowley very kindly offered to write a preface, and no one could better than he preface such a volume.
It was also considered whether, this Lisbon branch being set up, it would not be fitting that some Spanish authors be included in the choice. I have no connections in Spain, but could establish them very easily. And it is quite certain that, apart from such connections, some Spanish work—there is not very much of it—would very easily fit one part of the scheme outlined above for translations from the Portuguese. I may instance that strange tale, "Embrujamiento", by Antonio de Hoyos, which being perfect in its class, also lends itself supremely to fantastic illustration.
(2) This needs very little comment, except that setting-up would be cheap in Portugal, where labour is cheap all round, especially considering the depreciation of our currency. I would see to it myself that the matrices or casts were letter-perfect. Printing—i.e., machining—is not very good in Portugal, but it is not bad that books might not occasionally be printed here. Still, Mr. Crowley's suggestion—that the setting-up of "difficult" books be made here and the mere matrices or casts sent to England for machining there—is the right and proper one in the terms of the case.
(3) This is an offshoot of the other two points and may be cast aside without affecting anything about them. There is in Portugal a good, but necessarily limited, market for small and costly editions, and Brazil can be reached through the Portuguese booksellers who have connections in that country; it is never recommended that direct contact be established with Brazilian booksellers, because it is current in the trade here that Brazilian booksellers have an obstinate disinclination to settle accounts outside their country.
It must be noted that "costly", in respect of an edition in Portuguese, has nothing like the monetary meaning that it would have in Britain or America. The normal price or a normal book in Portuguese is to 10 to 15 escudos, which means 2 to 3 shillings; so a "costly" edition means one selling at from 30 to 50 escudos—5 to 10 shillings. Yet, as cost of production is cheap, profit, though not large, is sure. It is, besides, very easy to card-index down almost to a mere error in units the precise public available in Portugal for limited editions.
Please consider all these points. If any of them be not clear, I shall be very pleased to supply further information. I may add that the cost of establishing and running a branch here—apart, of course, from the direct cost of the setting-up work and the like—is practically negligible. That is why I have not referred to it at all.
Yours faithfully,
Fernando Pessoa
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