PRESERVATION PHOTOCOPY: ORIGINAL MATERIAL RESTRICTED

29 March 1940

Dear Mortimer Adler:

When you were here I did not have a chance to talk to you. I
hope that you will return soon. I want to see you.

I think it is time you heard the story of Francis J. Hurley, who
has an inscribed, and Robert J. Bayer, who has an uninscribed copy
of your book.

About a year ago Messrs. Hurley and Bayer were in the shop, on a
morning when I received a notice from the Marquette University
informing me that that institution was about to publish your
lecture on Thomas Aquinas.

Because Hurley and Bayer are both good Papists and enthusiastic
Thomists, I broke into their conversation to ask if they both
wanted a copy of that book. Book replied that they did.

Hurley said, "I know Mortimer Adler quite well. I have been
studying Plato with him. Sometimes," and here his fingers meas-
ured about an inch and a half, "we spend two week on a passage
that long." Then, with shining eyes and trembling voice, he said,
"Just imagine reading Plato with Mortimer Adler!"

I replied, "It may be that I am carnal and concupiscent. Possibly I am libidinous and low. But I had rather read Swinburne with Myrna Loy."

When you come in I shall speak Swinburne to you.

Mr Bayer comes into the shop every day. At one time he was edi-
tor of the Franciscoan Herald, and is now associate editor and
circulation manager of Traffic World. Mr Hurley was, is, and
will continue to be, legal counsel to Campbell Insurance. As
for me, I am just

Ben Abramson

Prof. Mortimer Adler
University of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois

vhr

THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

THE LAW SCHOOL

FIFTIETH
ANNIVERSARY
1891-1941

Mr. Ben Abramson
Argus Book Shop
16 North Michigan Ave
Chicago, Ill.