1945

Letters (Misc.s)

January 28th - to N.D. from Augustus - re. N.D.'s portrait

March 17th - from N.D. to Robin - re. "Almanac"

March 25th - to N.D. from Marcel (Amtibes) re. presents of N.D. to Marcel

May 3rd - to N.D. from Tania Jepson - re. the typescript of "Venus in the Kitchen"

May 30th - to N.D. " T. Skemington - re. "Fountains in the Sand"

May 31st - to N.D. " Harold G. Rugg - re. "An Almanac"

June 6th - to N.D. " The Consul General Nice - re. message from Wolton

June 19th - to N.D. " Michael - re. specimens of Italian flowers

July 8th - to N.D. " Peter Marron - re. "Alone" & "London Street Games"

August 7th - to N.D. " Grove - re. copy of " London Street Games"

August 8th - to N.D. " Harold G. Rugg - re. copy of first ed. "Almanac"

August 10th - to N.D. " Peter Marron - re. "How about Europe?"

August 27th - to N.D. " Mary Kestaven - re. Ed. Le Sagittaire ("Alone")

Sept. 13th - to N.D. " Donald Stephenson - re. talks on literary criticism

Sept. 25th - to N.D. " Bertram Rota - re. Lst. 30 from Dartmouth College Library

Sept. 27th - to N.D. " Hutch - re. the sheets of "Almanac"

Novem. 16th - to N.D. " Raymond Baker - re. "An Almanac"

Mon.21 Feb./949.

ARTHUR HARTMANN

73 Bedford Street
New York City - 14

Mr. Norman Douglas.
Capri, Italy.

Honoured Sir:- In yesterday's N.Y.Times I read Mr. Fitzgibbon's very interesting article about yourself and the book you intend to print...in Capri...on Milton's plagiarisms from Italian pets...The subject of course interests me and all the more so as one of my intimates friends was the late Leonard Van Noppen(one time Queen Wilhelmina Lecturer and Professor of Dutch at Columbia University) who did the first Englishing of VONDEL's Lucifer and who gave several hundred lectures throughout this country, with hundreds of poetic parallisms proving that Milton's Paradise Lost was a plagiarism of Vondel's Lucifer.

Will you therefore be good enough to ask your printer to inform me what the price of your book will be?

With all good wishes for your health and continued productivity and also. .that I too may see Capri ere I die.. I am

Potenza 23 Giugno 1948

Signor
Norman Douglas
Capri
==============

Ho la Sua gradita del 20 corrente e con
piacere Le ho inviato la copia dello studio del
mio amico Avv. De Pilato sul Paradiso Perduto di
Milton.

Lo studio in parola ha trovato molto con-
senso tra gli studiosi, tanto che ne disponiamo solo
qualche esemplare.

Mi è gradita l'occasione per salutarLa
molto distintamente

Dartmouth College Library
Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.A.

31 May 1945

Mr. Norman Douglas
c/o Martin Secker & Warburg Ltd.
22 Essex Street
London W. C. 2, England.

Dear Mr. Douglas:

I am wondering whether it is possible to secure a
copy of your publication "An Almanac" privately printed in
Lisbon in 1941, and if so at what cost.

We have a Library of almost 600,000 volumes. In
our Treasure Room we have a large collection of first editions
of your work which was given to us a year or two ago by an
alumnus who was much interested in making this collection.
Our collection of your printed works is practically complete.
We have in it the corrected typescript of "They Went", the
manuscript of "In the Beginning", together with about fifty
letters. So you will see we are anxious to get everything
possible written by you for this very fine collection. If
you have written anything else since 1941 I would be glad to
know of this fact.

Hoping to hear from you shortly, I am

GR/K

THE BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION

Broadcasting House, London, W.1

TELEPHONE : WELBECK 4468 CABLES : BROADCASTS, LONDON

INLAND TELEGRAMS : BROADCASTS, TELEX, LONDON

07/ES/DS

13th September, 1945

Dear Mr. Douglas,

The BBC's Eastern Service carries a programme called "The Written Word" - talks on literary criticism designed to amplify the studies in English at Indian Universities.

The series in the ensuing quarter is on English diarists and letter writers, and we feel that no one could more aptly talk on Lord Chesterfield's Letters to his son than yourself. A fifteen-minute (1800 words) script is required, and for this programme it ought to be in my hands by 7th November.

I should be most grateful if you would let me know whether you can undertake this script, and also whether or not you will agree to broadcast it yourself. These programmes are being arranged by John Arlott, and if you should decide to write the script he will get in touch with you and I will ask our Contracts Department to communicate with you regarding fees.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
46 Thurloe Square,
S.W.7.

MH

20.Earl's Terrace,
London, W.8.

August 27th 1945

Norman Douglas Esq.
7. Southwell Gardens, S.W.7.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I have just heard from M.Leon Pierre-Quint of the Editions Le Sagittaire, saying that he definitely wishes to acquire the French rights in _Alone_ according to the terms I mentioned in my letter to you of July 27th. (An advance of £50, with royalties of 8% on the first ten thousand copies sold, and 10% thereafter).

He is communicating direct with Mr.Kilham Roberts about this, and I very much hope that it can be arranged satisfactorily.

Claverton,
Elton Park,
Sandycove,
Co. Dublin,
Ireland.

8 July 1945.

Dear Mr Douglas,

I know from "Looking Back" how little you welcome letters from total strangers, but I can't any longer keep to myself the enormous pleasure so much of your writing has given me - some of it must overflow and splash you in whatever faraway part of the world you are. Your scientific disquisitions necessarily are lost on me, having been so badly brought up I don't know specular iron from sanidin, but when I can follow you without getting hopelessly left behind, it's exploration rich and rare. Like Lytton Strachey I prize "Alone" above all your works, but I wouldn't part with any of them, from "London Street Games" on.

And I shall love you for ever for what
you say about Ouida - dear Ouida! as you
so rightly call her in "Siren Land" - that
beautiful noble woman nowadays reviled by
authors not fit to breathe her name.
(Victorian Wallflower, forsooth! A Study
in Ostentation, save the mark!) How I
envy your having corresponded with her!
I have one of the eight sold copies of the
book you dedicated to her - can it really
have fared so badly as you say?

[Peter Marron.]

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
c/o Martin Secker & Warburg,
London.