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Correspondence from Charles Harper [Waterhouse & Co., Solicitors for Constable & Co.] to Michael Sadleir [Constable & Co., Publishers of Laughing Torso]
[Correspondence concerning Constable & Co.'s preparation for the libel suit brought by Aleister Crowley against Nina Hamnett and the publication of her book Laughing Torso.]
Waterhouse & Co. Solicitors 10 & 12 Bishopsgate, London, E.C.2.
25th April 1933
"LAUGHING TORSO"
Dear Sadleir,
Betty May rang me up yesterday and said she would call to-day with the latest about Crowley. She rang up this morning that she was unable to call but would tell me on the telephone what little she had learned.
It seems that she is living in London just now and goes to the Café Royal and other haunts of Crowley's. She describes his as down and out, unwashed, unshaven and with nowhere to sleep. She paid for his drink and enquired how his law case was getting on. He replied that it would be heard on the 5th of May.
(As the action has not been entered in the list and is not likely to be, as that means money, this intimation was, of course, pure moonshine.)
Betty May learns from Nina Hamnett that Crowley is going about threatening all publishers of books in which he is referred to with libel proceedings. It is his desperate throw for money. She is positive that we shall never hear any more of the action.
Yours sincerely,
Charles S.J. Harper
Michael Sadleir, Esq., 10 & 12, Orange Street, Leicester Square, W.C.2.
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