LES ÉDITIONS DU CHÊNE

3, PLACE A. LEEMANS, BRUXELLES

TÉL : 37-19-04

CABLE : ÉDIJAMA - BRUXELLES

16, PLACE VENDOME, PARIS

TÉL : OPÉRA 67-60

CABLE : ÉDICHÈNE - PARIS

N/Ref.: MG/MD
3.922

25th. September 1946

Norman Douglas Esq.
C:O British Consulate General,
Naples

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for your letter of the 4th. inst. and for your suggestion as to the way we could settle my eventual debts concerning the rights of the 'Limericks'.

So far as I know, only 100 copies of that book were printed and sold at a retail price of 100 francs, which would mean a round sum of 1000 francs with a royalty of 10%. As, however, I am not even absolutely sure of the number of copies the only edition of the book consisted in, I would be ready to offer you a round sum of 5000 francs.

Of course, this does not mean that I admit that royalties have not been payed to you already. This payment is to be considered as a final settlement of your rights for this book. The first edition having been a limited edition I confirm that we will never publish any new edition of the book. We also undertake not to make any claim on the sum we will pay you as a final settlement, in case we find the proof that your rights have already been settled by the Obelisk Press before the war, or that those 5000 francs represent more than what The Obelisk Press had undertaken to pay you. On another hand we would expect you to undertake not to sell the rights of the book again to another firm, as they were bought from you by The Obelisk Press on the understanding that your manuscript would be used for a limited edition only.

Finally, I want to point out that it is absolutely impossible to pay that sum to you in England without a license to be obtained from the "Office des Changes". In order to obtain that license, we must furnish sufficient proofs of the fact that we have effectively bought the rights of a book from you. Even if we can provide such proofs (that is:

S.A.R.L. AU CAPITAL DE 1.500.000 FRS. R.C. : 291.691 B. C.C.P. : 3799-75 N° C.O. DU LIVRE : H.OHl. R.P. : 7216

.../.

- 2 -

a contract), the Office des Changes may consider that there are
no sufficient grounds to grant the license.

This is why I have to ask you, either to let us pay
those 5000 francs to a person living in France, and in francs,
or to sign the contract which I enclose. This contract has been
made for a fictitious work, and its main purpose is to enable
us to obtain the license without which we could not pay you.
You will notice that it has been drawn so as to apply to your
"Limericks" by simply changing the title of the work refered to
(which we have used only because we could not) a license for a
book of limericks).

I am sorry to have to ask you to accept this very
complicated scheme, but there is unfortunately no other way of
solving the present problem...

In one of your first letters, you had mentioned a ma-
nuscript you thought would be fit for publication by the
Obelisk Press. I answered that we would be very interested, and
asked several times for complementary information, which you
never gave me.

Could you let me know what this book is and whether
you still want us to consider it for publication? I am very
interested and would greatly appreciate an answer to this
query.

LES ÉDITIONS DU CHÊNE

TÉL : 37.19.04 CABLE : EDUJAMA - BRUXELLES

MG/MD/3.236

16, PLACE VENDOME, PARIS

17th. June 1946.

Norman DOUGLAS Esq.,
46 Thurloe Square
London SW7

Dear Sir,

I must both thank you for your letter of the 7th.
May, and apologize for the delay I took to answer it, due
to my absence from Paris during the last two months.

I am very sorry indeed not to have been able to
warn you of my visit beforehand when I cam to London in
May, but it was a very short and unexpected trip, and I was
not certain to find the opportunity of going to your place
during the two days I spent in London.

I am very sorry we have not been able to trace back
the contract of The Obelisk Press for your 'Limericks', in
spite of our efforts. We are quite ready to rely on your indic-
ations as to the royalties owed you for that book, but we
could not make any payments to you without a contract (or at
least a copy of the contract) as we have to give to the french
government the proof that we owe you that money. Therefore,
I would be very grateful if you could send me a duplicate of
your copy of the contract, or the original itself it you can
spare it. In the same time, I would like to know whether you
are absolutely certain that no royalties, nor advances on
royalties, have been payed to you at the time when that con-
tract was signed, or afterwards.

We are very interested by your reference to a MS. you
would eventually be able to offer to 'The Obelisk Press' for
publication in English. Would the french rights of that
work be available too? Our firm, 'Les Editions du Chêne', are

.../

S.A.R.L. AU CAPITAL DE 1.500.000 FRS. R.C. : 291.691 B. C.C.P. : 3799-75 N° C.O. DU LIVRE : II.OIII. R.P. : 7216

LES ÉDITIONS DU CHÊNE

TÉL : 37-19-04

CABLE : ÉDIJAMA - BRUXELLES

N/Ref.: MG MD
3.429

16, PLACE VENDOME, PARIS

TÉL : OPÉRA 67-60

CABLE : ÉDICHÈNE - PARIS

19th. July 1946

Norman DOUGLAS Esq.
C/O British Consulate General
Naples

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I have duly received your letter of the 20th.
June, for which I thank you.

I really do not know what to suggest about
the "Limericks". The only point on which I can rely is that the
book has been completely sold out, as we have not even one copy
left here.

I had a hope that I could find back the agree-
ment you had with The Obelisk Press, but, unfortunately, this
seems to have completely disappeared together with many other
important documents belonging to that firm.

The news you gave me about your own copy of the
contract ruins my last hope of finding an indication relative to
the terms on which that transaction was based.

However, I am quite ready to consider any suggest-
ion you could make in order to come to a conclusion which would
be both satisfactory to you, and acceptable to ourselves.

I am very sorry of not being able to give you a
more satisfactory answer; unfortunately, we are exactly in the
same situation regarding several authors of The Obelisk Press,
whose contracts have been lost during the occupation.

On another hand, I do not think you replied, in
your last letter, to my enquiry about the Ms. you told me about
previously, and which you thought would be publishable by the
Obelisk Press.

We are starting a new program, and are certain
to be in a position to make a very interesting offer for such a
Ms.

in this letter,

I am,

hoping for a prompt reply on both points raised

S. A. R. L. AU CAPITAL DE 1.500.000 FRS.

R.C. : 291.001 B.

C. C. P. : 3799-25

N° C.O. DU LIVRE : II.OH.II.

G.P. : 7216

THE OBELISK PRESS

LES EDITIONS DU CHENE

O/Ref.: MG/MD
2.744

12th. February 1946

Norman Douglas Esq.
Thurloes Square
London S.W.

19 answer

Dear Sir,

A lady came on your behalf to ask about your royalties on your book: Limericks.

The whole edition has been sold out, but we fear we do not know how we stand as to the royalties owed you, as most of our papers and accounts have been lost during the occupation and we do not know how much money has been payed to you up to now.

Could you trace back all the settlements which were made to you by the Obelisk Press before the war?

We are very sorry to put you to so much trouble, but I do not know how we could piece the situation of your accounts together without your assistance.

Yours sincerely,

M. GIRODIAS

16 PLACE VENDOME PARIS

Tél. Opéra 22-76

BUREAUX DE BELGIQUE: 3, PLACE ALBERT-LEEMANS, BRUXELLES

Tél. 37-19-04

Registre du Commerce : Seine 749-489 • C.C.P. 3.779-75 • N° C.O. du livre : 11.0111