|
Correspondence from Karl Germer to Philip Kaplan
West Point, Calif. Box 258
April 6, 1958.
Dear Philip:
Enclosed is the list you sent me, thanks for sending it.
I received your letter with the list yesterday, Saturday afternoon. As I told you on the phone this morning, I have no cash to make any bid.
You must have received my letter before you got this, and see from it that Watkins, the big book dealers in London are in touch with Lund [Robert Lund], and have probably by this time also have a list of the books. I doubt whether they can bid against dollar bids on this side, unless Yorke [Gerald Yorke] pushes or assists. I still think that you yourself have the greatest chance, and, I feel that there are forces at work who will assist you.—Yorke has an arrangement with Watkins, I believe.
As to the value, there are 107 books of the rarest kind, some absolutely unique. (The greatest value, in my opinion, is lot 33, the MS of The Vision and the Voice, published in Equinox I, 5, Special Supplement, and re-published by me some years ago with Introduction and Crowley's qabalistic Commentary. The original manuscript is absolutely priceless, as this book will some day prove one of Crowley's greatest work. (I wonder who the man is that helped compose the list; in one way he seemed much informed, and in another ignorant of the above fact.). Now if you take an average of $24 per item, you reach $2500, but some of the books can be valued at several hundreds of dollars each! Some are absolutely priceless.
In one way I was a little disappointed by the list; Crowley left England in 1914, at the end, and had the books shipped very probably before he left, unless he instructed one of his member of the OTO to ship them early in 1915. I would have expected the books of a greater variety; there are too many duplications, just in other editions, or bindings.
Should you succeed, for which you have all my wishes, I hope you will permit me to buy some of the items which I do not have in my collection. Also, that some day you will permit Yorke and me to make copies of A.C.'s annotations which appear only in this collections.
A final word: you mentioned that Lund is prepared to sell the remaining books and manuscripts to the buyer of the whole collection. Please bear this in mind, as important. That which he has not put in the list, may be wither loose manuscripts, unbound, which did not appear worth to him, and which, on the contrary may be specially valuable, which he wanted to keep. You seem to think that I know what they are: he has kept his mouth shut towards me more than to anyone else.
I don't know why "next Wednesday"? Is a decision due by then?
I noticed that you seemed worn out when I talked to you on the Phone this morning. I would wish that it would be worth it in the end!
With all good wishes, yours,
Karl
Herewith: Original list 14 pp. copy of Original List 10 pp (slightly abbreviated).
|