|
Correspondence from Karl Germer to Louis Wilkinson
K.J. GERMER 260 West 72nd Street New York 23 N.Y. Endicott 2-6799
Palm, Pa, August 8, 1948.
Dear Mr. Wilkinson,
I am so snowed under with letters and important matters that I can hardly breathe; but certain things demand that I write you at once, to answer your letters of June 26th and July 28th. Let me be as brief as possible.
Your lists of payments: thank you; I've noted the details.
Remaining payments: I shall agree with your offer of £50 to V. Symonds [Vernon Symonds], and hope this will square that matter.—I too thought the doctor's bills a little high. I shall agree with your offering the 25% reduction. I have not in my files here and cannot check: did we pay that man in Hastings those £15 which I wanted to do? If not, please do not forget this. It seems, though, that this was paid.—Yes, please pay Mr. Yorke [Gerald Yorke] what will be due to him.
Copyrights: I'm not too worried about this, as all of A.C.'s copyrights were vested in the O.T.O. Whether that is a final protection remains to be seen.
Mrs. MacAlpine [Patricia MacAlpine]: Did you pay here the balance of the school fee [for Aleister Ataturk]? P.S. Done, I see I was unable to write you there; all kinds of things have kept me busy.
Hastings lawyers: Did they send a bill? If so, how much? I hope they will remain within limits due to their inexpert advice to A.C.
Yes, Mr. Symonds [John Symonds] sent me some letters received from the printers; in the meantime I have received letters from them direct and also a parcel containing the first galley proofs of Liber Aleph and of The Golden Twigs. In the last few days I have worked hard on proof reading of the latter and will write Gerald Yorke about this directly, with a copy to you, and to Mr. Symonds.
I am still of opinion that we should go on with the Hastings printer, despite all. The copies which I am enclosing in duplicate of the letters he sent me will show the situation. He keeps on being unbusinesslike. His Estimate, or price is £220/17/5 for 500 copies of Golden Twigs; and £228/12/6, for 500 Liber Aleph, all bound in full cloth.
This does not help me. In the first place he says "The expenditure to date is now £123/10/0, and he does not mention the advance of £100 paid to him 1947, nor does he deduct the expenses of £123.10.0. I would like to get from him a price arrived at in the following way:—
Price or Estimate
As to the paper, I had arranged with A.C. that he should buy the paper of good quality for both books, and he wrote me that this had been done. So I do not understand the printer's remark ". . to say that we have enough paper to produce 500 of each book. . . . and the "The delay in answering has been the paper question." The paper must have been in his possession all the time.
Another thing: he sent me paper sample, of which I enclose a part. I cannot at this moment check whether this paper is of good quality. I have not seen the sample of the paper that A.C. procured; all I can say is that I am positive that at least for Liber Aleph A.C. bought the best quality available on the market. I would like this cleared up.
Furthermore:—.C. wrote me on March 17th 1947 "Local estimate for Liber Aleph bound complete £215, but better call it £250."
Judging from this the present prices of £228.12.6 for Liber Aleph and that for Golden Twigs, are acceptable, provided it includes the complete books, and that both the advance of £100 and the value of the paper which we provided is deducted from the total.
If this is correct, I agree that the printer goes ahead with the completion of the two books without further delay.
There is a further discrepancy: Mr. W.C. Jones wrote July 7 to Mr. Symonds that—"Liber Aleph—the final proofs were submitted to the late Mr. Crowley, and were returned to us and we have partly paged these". What they sent me are apparently first proofs. I hope I am wrong. I will read these proofs and finish them before the next week is over, i.e. by August 15. I will then send them off at once.
To resume: If my view of the printer's letters is correct the total price for both books would be about £451 less £100 advance payment, thus £350. (This is a great sum of money to pay cash down. Please give me a clear idea of what balance is left in the Bank in Hastings after all debts have been paid.) The value of the paper supplied by A.C. would come off this too.
As Mr. Jones—with whom A.C. dealt last year and who, A.C. said, was very friendly—is on the job again, I hope the printing can go ahead without legal action, and speedily now. However, I am sure personal regular checking on this is necessary.
As Mr. John Symonds may be too busy, and someone acquainted with the Work should assist in the completion of the books, I am writing to-day to Mr. Gerald Yorke for his help, and discussing it with Mr. Symonds.
All this has been written rather in a hurry. I shall send a copy of this to Mr. Symonds and to Mr. Yorke, as there are some further details on which I would like to have their advice. And I would prefer another proof reading by someone else, before handing it to the printer.
Kindest regards,
Sincerely yours,
Karl Germer
Encl 1) Official letter of the Official Receiver 2) Copy of letter to Yorke 3) Sample paper
|