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Correspondence from Robert Lund to Philip Kaplan
8503 Hartwell Street, Detroit 28, Michigan
October 19, 1959
Dear Phil:
I am sorry to be so long writing you, but I have had a lot of catching up to do at the office following the accident.
What follows will be rather unnecessary, as I expect the books will go to you, but I would like to reply to several of the points raised in your letter of August 13th.
Referring to the price you paid for the books—and I agree it was a good price—you declared, "If I ever decide to dispose of my purchase, I would have a most difficult time finding a buyer who would pay me the original purchase price." I did not exaggerate when I told you David Randall of The University of Indiana was prepared to pay $2,500 for the material you obtained from me. The only drawback is that Randall wanted to pay for the material in two installments stretched over a period of a year or more. If you question this, or if you want to sell the material, I suggest you contact Randall.
I was unfair to you to the extent that I promised that if and when I decided to sell the balance of the material I would offer it to you first. I did not actually offer it to anyone else before I offered it to you, but I did invite bids from two others at the same time I wrote you. To that extent I was not fair to you and I apologize.
The next point you raise is in regard to the value of the books. You stated that I must have a good idea of the value of the material. I have no such idea, or rather I had no such idea prior to the time I asked you and the others for bids on the books. The only yardstick I have for getting an idea of the value of the material is by observing the prices dealers ask for Crowley items. I think those prices are ridiculous. Carnegie Book Shop had a Crowley letter of about six-seven pages, if memory serves, in their last autograph catalogue and the price was $30 or $35. I have no idea whether the letter was grabbed up or whether Carnegie will have it in stock for the next ten years, so even dealer prices are rather meaningless to me.
So much for your letter.
The status of the material as of now is this: I have one firm bid for the books, which I have neither accepted nor declines. I am not asking you to match or exceed the bid, but if you will make me what you regard as a fair offer for the material, it is yours. I am actually placing myself at a disadvantage in putting it that way because it is tantamount to saying that whatever you offer, within reason, will be accepted. My only "out" is that, as you know, I have a few remaining items that I have not offered to anyone, and if and when I should decide to sell them, I will weigh the outcome of this transaction accordingly. Which is a hell of a complex, clumsy sentence to end a letter with.
Sincerely,
Robert Lund
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