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Correspondence from Aleister Crowley to Pearl Brooksmith
66 Redcliffe Gardens. S.W.10.
15 February 1937
Dear Pearl.
Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.
I am writing this letter in order to supply you with ammunition for your battle to-night with Mr Bracewell. It is quite impossible to enter into a business which involves cooperation with a man who is suspicious and insulting; he had got to change his whole attitude. The mental poison which he has picked up in the cockroach house at Bury Street must be eliminated once and for all from his system.
You blame me for having signed the original agreement. You forget that Bracewell had brutally rejected a draft which suggested fair terms. I was perfectly right in signing it, knowing that his rapacity would defeat his ends. I know that he was ignorant of the business; he has no idea at all of the difficulties which always attend the production of any book, and that he would consequently find out for himself that it is impossible to carry through an undertaking of this kind in this slipshod way.
It is now a matter of three months since the beginning of the negotiations, and he has not been able to make up his mind how many copies he intends to produce. You tell me that he is now talking of an edition of 2500. I have no doubt that this number of copies could be sold, but they could not be sold at more than £1.1s a copy. Therefore, if he intends to print this number the duplication method is uneconomical.
I signed this agreement under the understanding that all diligence and expedition would be used to get the book out. He had the prospectus before Christmas; he said it was satisfactory and took it away to be printed. Seized with another spasm of indecision, he did nothing about it, and I have kept on getting out new prospectuses which he always declares to be satisfactory. And now he wants to write the prospectus himself. You tell him it is a good prospectus, though I think it very unlikely that a man of no experience whatever could produce one.
The point is that I signed the contract on the understanding that the first instalment would be ready for sale early in January. Even earlier dates were originally suggested. That is to say, I had every reason to expect that a certain amount of money would be available for your use and mine long ago. If he had had the prospectus printed at once he could have got subscriptions in at once and you would have been spared this two months worry and anxiety.
I have offered him a new agreement brought out to meet the changed conditions, but he will have none of it. Now he wants a new agreement of his own. He is to get all the material into his hands without obliging himself in any way to fulfil his terms. We have no reason whatever to trust him. He has fulfilled his financial engagements with few exceptions, but this may be all part of a scheme of rascality. He is pressing to get control of the undertaking worth on his own showing well over £1000. It is somewhat reminiscent of the methods of the confidence man. These people are always very ready with chicken feed.
Mr Bracewell has, as Mr Kingsley told you, broken his agreement already in several small points; he will certainly not be able to produce the first instalment by the appointed date. I have been absolutely fair with the man; I have offered to submit the terms of any new agreement to an independent person who is familiar with the terms of the publishing business. His refusal to accept this offer appears to me clear evidence of bad faith.
We are fortunately in a position to insist; he is liable to an action for breach of contract. I do not wish to take advantage of this fact, I renew my offer to have the terms settled by an independent third party, but unless he agrees to do this and shows evidence of his good will by arranging matters temporarily with you this evening, there will be nothing for it but to insist on our legal rights. I am most anxious to settle this matter in the friendliest possible way. I have been perfectly open throughout, while he has been secretive. It has not paid him and it will not pay him. I do hope you will not let yourself be talked into agreeing to conditions which I shall certainly reject.
Love is the law, love under will.
P.S. I want you to understand the strategy of diplomacy. If you are strong and hard to begin with, there is value in your subsequent acts of graciousness. But if you begin by being weak you are simply pursued, and get no credit whatever for your good feeling.
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