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Correspondence from Karl Germer to Gerald Yorke
30 April 1948
Dear Yorke:
In the rush of changes and events I may not have confirmed all your packages, letters, parcels. The following is probably not complete, but here it is:— I received from you letters of April 19, Mar. 2 (with A.C.'s ring); Mar. 22 (with original [manuscript] of Liber Legis); April—no date—received 21st.
Jane [Jane Wolfe] has started to write her reminiscences of Cefalù. I hope she'll make a good historical, impartial job of it. She'll do her best. Meanwhile, let me say that Leah Hirsig, whom I knew well, while exerting during the course of six years the strongest influence on A.C., fell by the board, just as all the other "Scarlet Women". I say this to prevent John Symonds from making the obvious blunder and describing her as "the" S.[carlet] W.[oman]. While another 50 years may have to pass before a more complete and factual record can be written, we may as well help to make the present one as good, and as little misleading, as possible.
Birven [Henri Birven]: he is a swine, and I hope he is not going to write me. No: he is a rat. I want no truck with him. I know more about him that you could possibly hear.
Thank you indeed for your prompt attention to the shipping through Van Oppen. I'll contact them here. My letter to Louis Wilkinson, of which copy herewith, explains my financial situation at the moment and plans. I wanted the balance of what I have there to be applied to your account. I hope you'll agree with me in my decision to help A.C.'s son [Aleister Ataturk], or rather his mother [Patricia MacAlpine], in the emergency and let her have all the available cash. I hope I can manage to settle shortly. Please keep a careful list of the monies I owe you, and send it to me from time to time.
Yes, Jones [Charles Stansfeld Jones] is in touch with Tränker [Heinrich Tränker]. I am not too interested in it. T[ränker] owes a lot of money: I paid for the production of the first 5 or 6 copies of Pansophia, and T. took all the cash, the paper, the printed copies, and sold them without thinking for a moment to pay me. Yet, as a brother, he was really of stature.
I have nothing to add to my letter to you of April 23 re. Jones. Further letters and communications from him only deepen my position. Perhaps you know, perhaps not, that he is said to have joined the Catholic Church. Anyway, some of his thoughts have Catholic or at least Christian leanings. However it is: I have lost all interest in him. In his letters received after my last to you, he argues in detail about meanings of verses of AL 220; he speculates on them; he does the very thing that the Comment was written to curse. In the last 15 days he has sent me 35 pages of letters and 'communications'. And the end is not yet. To-day I received another 2 letters. I might as well listen to the ravings of a lunatic of the type that, for the time being, manage to stay outside an asylum. I do not expect him to send me a copy of his Liber 31, though I believe that was his genuine and valuable contribution to the knowledge of The Book of the Law. Still, I know it was only partial, and was extended by further light. I don't know yet what attitude I'm going to adopt towards Jones.
I suppose you know about Aleister Ataturk, A.C.'s natural son. He was produced under auspicious circumstances. I was in London then. It was a really great event in A.C.'s life and he applied to it a great effort, preparation, and concentration. In consequence he expected much of him. And so do I. I am glad he is an Englishman, and I'll do my best to help get him a sound and good education. If at any time you should meet him. I'd appreciate your judgement. Louis Wilkinson saw him recently when he was in London with his mother.
Did I confirm your letter of April 2 with notes to Louis Wilkinson re. printing and exporting conditions? I have not heard from either Wilkinson or Symonds about it, and printers wrote me a short note in reply to my urgent appeal "that the man who dealt with the matter was sick". Meanwhile the rent for the type keeps piling up every month: I don't know at all how to deal with the matter. I'm willing to complete the printing, leave part of the stock for binding in England; take part over here, and bind and publish here. But: without a printer who condescends to act businesslike, who lets me wait everytime a month or so before writing me a nondescript answer—what can I do.
Will write you more when I have settled down to digesting my mail pile.
All the best to you and your family. Tomorrow I start driving around the country inspecting suitable properties. Will let you know if and when I find what I'm looking for.
As ever, yours,
Karl Germer.
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