May 7,-44

Dear James Whyte :

At last I can give you some facts about the
"Sleepwalkers" I sent you in Spring 1939 :

I bought these copies for ¢ 1.25 each, and as
I had no income at all at this time, I was very
happy that you were illing to sell a dozen of
them, for I hoped to get a few dollars out of
it.

Therefore I sent you this dozen, and some time
around 1939/40 ( -- it was during my first
sejour in Princeton -- ) you told me that you
have sold about half of them, kindly sending me
a check of ¢ 20.- which, of course, meant no
profit for me, but the covering of my own
expenses ( ¢ 15.- and mailing, etc. )

Today, although still far from being a rich man,
I would prefer the second half dozen were not
sold, for I want badly every copy. But as they
are gone and, as my son informed me, you didn't
find a credit for me in your books, I don't, of
course, ask you to re-open such a credit in favor
of the "Sleepwalkers", but I do ask you to re-
open an account of friendship for the "Virgil"
which seems to me to be the much more important
book : Kurt Wolff and I pinned very great hopes
on you for the selling of this work, and we
are, needless to say, a little disappointed to
hear that you can't enlarge your order because

until now, you have got only two subscriptions;
as in N.Y. the bookshops are ordering 20 to 50
copies, we thought that there should be possi-
bilities in Washington to push the selling a
little bit, and all the more so as the excellent
combination of bookshop and gallery you have
set up should enable you to reach people likely
to be interested in the "Virgil".

I think I need not persuade you that there are
bit many books to be compared with the "Virgil",
and that it is worth while any effort of the
book seller : we can only publish this book
( especially the German edition ) when and if
we have sufficient subscriptions, and for this
purpose we want your help; we hope, therefore,
that you, including the "Virgil" in your friend-
ship for the "Sleepwalers" and their author,
you will find a way to multiply the number of
subscriptions of your Washington friends, enabling
yourself to enlarge your order.

If my son remains in Washington, I shall come to
see him, and would be only too glad to meet you
again. Please give my kindest regards to Mrs. Whyte

Cordially yours

Hermann Broch

Dear James Whyte :

Thank you very much for your of June 10th, and the enclosed check. I am very glad that you could increase your order, for Kurt Wolff is still very nervous about the slow incoming of slow propen stowness of the subscription. I am much less nervous, not only because I consider that the 500 orders we have until now are not enough a bad result ( -- of course K.W. wants 1000 ) but also because I never was print-hungry; my experience has taught me, that things have their inner logic, and that one must have the patience to let it work out. Having full confidence in this book, I am very sure, that it will find its way to the public as well as the "Sleppwalkers" have done it, and on the end it will remain as a book of lasting influence.

But -- in spite of all patience, -- I would like to know the
"Vergil" already传xxx in your hands, with my respects to Mrs.

Whyte always yours