15 December, 1932.

The Secretary,
Authors' Society,
II Gower Str. W. C.

Dear Mr. Roberts,

I must apologize for this delay in replying to your letter
of the 7 December.

The following have been my relations with the firms
mentioned by Mr. Cerf :

Of the Macmillan Co's Edition of *South Wind* I knew nothing
till the other day. I have never had any correspondence with
them, nor any payment from them.

The same applies to the Illustrated Editions Co's *South Wind*
of whose existence I have been unaware till now. I have not
seen this book.

The same applies to the Boni Edition.

Dodd Mead's ordinary Edition is the " authorized " one. For
this they have paid me for the year ending last August the sum
of dollars 54.40 ( income-tax still to be deducted ).
in 1928

They also brought out a big illustrated Edition and paid me

2.

dollars 125 for signing 250 copies of it. I have had no other payment from them in regard to this Edition.

The Argus Book Shop of Chicago published an illustrated Edition in two volumes in 1929. They paid me £50 for signing sheets and giving them a photograph, as I refused to do this for nothing. I have had no further payment from them.

The " Limited Editions Club " *South Wind* ( 1932 ) is not on the market. They paid 350 dollars " for permission to reprint", which was civil of them.

You will therefore see that my last year's earnings from this book in America amount to fifty-four dollars - apart from the last-named item, quite a fortuitous one.

It is a good illustration of what you call their piracy-protecting provisions. If I told you the corresponding English figures I think you would find them equally instructive.

With my best thanks for all the trouble you are taking in this matter, believe me,

Yours very truly

COPY

THE MODERN LIBRARY

September 16, 1932.

Mr. Eric S. Pinker,
9, East 46th Street,
New York, New York.

Dear Eric Pinker,

I am glad to answer you at once with regard to your inquiry
on Norman Douglas.

On Old Calabria, a check was mailed to Mr. Doublas on August 22nd, for $62.20 after deducting the income tax covering full royalty of 5 ¢ per copy on 1310 copies sold between July 1.1930 and June 30.1932.

On South Wind, we are unfortunately unable to pay any further royalties to Mr. Douglas. Despite the fact that this book has not been copyrighted in this country, we cheerfully continued Mr. Liveright's original arrangement of paying Mr. Douglas 5¢ a copy royalty on this book from 1926 through June 1930. About this time, however, this book appeared in two other reprint series, namely, The Macmillan Modern Readers series, and the Boni 50¢ book series. These editions were in addition to two different editions published by Dodd Mead & Co., and another one brought out in Chicago by the Argus Book Co. With all this new competition the Modern Library sale of the book dropped off sharply as was to be expected. We felt that we could no longer be expected to pay a royalty on a book that obviously was being considered by everybody as in the public domain.

Very frankly, our decision to cease making this complimentary payment to Mr. Douglas has hastened by the manner in which he conducted negotiations with us in early 1931 for the publication of a small book by him, entitled Summer Islands. After accepting our offer of $500.00 for giving us permission to do a limited edition of 500 copies of this book, each one of which was to be signed by him, Mr. Douglas blandly proceeded to sell the same title to an English publishing house who proposed to bring out a trade edition at some trifling sum before we could get out our limited edition. Mr. Douglas lamely explained that when he accepted our offer he merely believed he was giving us the American rights, although he has had var too much experience with all kinds of limited editions not to realise that our limited edition would be quite worthless

-2-

if it were preceded by a trade edition in England. The entire
transaction was very embarrassing and cost a great deal of money.
We had to abandon the publication altogether. It struck me as
quite preposterous that we should continue making any
gratuitous payment to Mr. Douglas on South Wind after the way
he handled this other matter with us.

Mr. Douglas will continue to receive semi-annual checks from us
for royalty on Old Calabria. You have my full permission to send him
a complete copy of this letter in explanation of why our checks
on South Wind have ceased.

14 October, 1932.

The Secretary,
Authors' Society,
II Gower Str. W.C.

Dear Sir,

I beg to enclose a letter from Mr. Horace Liveright
dated 16 April 1924, relative to the inclusion in his "Modern
Library" series of my book *South Wind*. The special intro-
duction required by him was duly written and printed in that
Edition.

The " Modern Library " was afterwards taken over by
Mr. Bennett Cerf, who wrote me on the 28 October 1925 :

" I want to continue <u>South Wind</u> in the " Modern Library " on precisely the same basis that Horace Liveright followed ; namely, to pay you a royalty of five cents per copy, statement to be furnished regularly on January and July 1st. "

Up to June 1930 the half-yearly payments were made
regularly ; then they ceased. I begged my agent, Mr. Pinker,
to enquire why the last four statements of account were not
forthcoming, and now enclose for your perusal a copy of
Mr. Cerf's reply.

2.

You will see that he justifies his refusal to pay on
the ground of competition with two pirated Editions, for
which I certainly never wrote special Introductions and of
whose existence, indeed, I was unaware till now. Is that a
sound reason ? The Dodd Mead Edition was the " authorized"
one; their illustrated Edition, and that by the Argus Book
company, are expensive works which cannot have injured the
circulation of his cheap Edition.

From a sentence in the enclose Monthly Letter -
dated, you will see, July 1932 - it appears that the " Modern
Library " are still selling 10,000 copies a year, in spite
of this " competition".

I will not go into the Summer Islands affair. So far as
I can see, it has nothing to do with Mr. Cerf's previous
undertaking in regard to South Wind. His statement on this
subject is a misrepresentation of the facts, and only dragged
in to afford an additional pretext for his non-payment of
royalties on South Wind.

Perhaps you would let me know at your convenience
whether you think there is anything to be done with Mr. Cerf.

I am,

24 October, 1932.

The Secretary,
Authors' Society,
II Gower St. W. C.

Dear Sir,

I am much obliged for your letter DKR/DG of the 18th.,
and for the trouble you have taken in the matter of Mr. Cerf.

The U. S. copyright in my Introduction was not secured
at Washington, and I have no means of showing that Mr. Cerf's
promise of payment to me was not revocable at will; I
possess no other documents bearing on this point.

Mr. Liveright once wrote me that Cerf had bought the
" Modern Library " from him for half a million dollars, so
I suppose Liveright is quite out of it.

In these circumstances I fear there is nothing more to
be done, and I can only apologize for the trouble I have given
you, and beg that the enclosures in my previous letter to
you may be returned at your convenience.

Yours very truly

November, 1932.

Dear Sir,

I am much obliged for your letter DKR/DG of the 28
October, and for your kind offer of intervention with Mr.
Cerf.

Although his reference to "Summer Islands" ( a mere
reprint of two old articles ) has nothing to do with the
point, I may just tell you that a misunderstanding arose
about this book between him and my English publisher Mr.
Harmsworth. Cerf's idea was to put the book on the English
market before the English Edition was ready ; to steal a
march on Harmsworth. He claimed the right to do this,
although I had written to say that " what I am selling you,
if you care about it, are the American and Canadian rights".
To put his book on the London market before the English
Edition was out would have been manifestly unfair to Mr.
Harmsworth, who had already paid for the English rights.

There was a further misunderstanding as to the date

2

of publication. From the enclosed envelope you will see that Cerf proposed publishing on October 1st. I held up the English Edition as long as I could, but Mr. Harmsworth refused to be kept dangling later that Christmas, and the enclosed letter to Mr. Sachs will show you that even Christmas had become too early for Mr. Cerf. You will note, too, that he thinks nobody was to blame.

I have got a veritable dossier on this subject here, but the above seems to me the gist of the matter.

The
Incorporated Society of Authors, Playwrights & Composers.

President: SIR JAMES BARRIE, BART., O.M.

Chairman: THE LORD GORELL, C.B.E., M.C.

COUNCIL:

THE Rt. HON. STANLEY BALDWIN, P.C., Etc.

WING-COMMR. THE HON. MAURICE BARING.

*MAJOR IAN HAY BRITH, C.B.E., M.C.
MRS. BELLOC-LOWNDERS.

J. D. BERESFORD.

LAURENCE BINYON.

THE Rt. HON. AUGUSTINE
BIRRELL, P.C.

THE Rt. HON. THE VISCOUNT
CECIL OF CHELWOOD,
P.C., K.C., Etc.

G. K. CHESTERTON, LL.D.

THE HON. JOHN COLLIER.

Miss CLEMENCE DAME.

SIR HENRY WALFORD DAVIES,

THE REV. CANON A. C. DEANE,
MUS. DOC.

*MRS. P. CHAMPION DE CRESFIONT.

WALTER DE LA MARE.

JOHN DRINKWATER.

*ASHLEY DUKES.

THOMAS F. DUMHILL.

St. JOHN ERVINE.

DOUGLAS FRESFIELD.

*MISS ROSE FYLEMAN.

JOHN GALSWORTHY, O.M.

*THE LORD GORELL, C.B.E., M.C.
(Chairman).

H. GRANVILLE-BARKER.

THE RIGHT HON. THE VISCOUNT
GREY OF FALLODON, K.G., P.C.,
T. ANNEY GUTHRIE, Etc.

SIR ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS.

W. W. JACOBS.

EDGAR JEPSON.

MISS SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

SIR STANLEY LEATHER, K.C.B.

*BENN W. LEVY.

E. V. Lucas.

THE Rt. HON. J. RAMSAY

MACDONALD, P.C.

E. J. MACGILLIVRAY.

*STEPHEN MCKENNA, Hon. Treasurer.

JOHN MASEFIELD.

AYLMER MAUDE.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

W. B. MAXWELL.

A. A. MILNE.

PROP. GILBERT MURRAY, M.A.

THE Rt. HON. SIR HENRY

NORMAN, BART.

MRS. PERRIN.

ROLAND PERTWEE.

EDEN PHILLFOTTS.

SIR ARTHUR PINERO.

* Members of Committee of Management.

THE Rt. HON. SIR FREDERICK

POLLOCK, BART., P.C., Etc.

*J. B. PRIESTLEY.

ARTHUR RACKHAM.

*MISS ELEANOR RATHBONE, M.A., M.P.

*ERNEST RAYMOND.

SIR OWEN SEAMAN.

G. BRNARD SHAW.

MISS MAY SINCLAIR.

DAME ETHEL SMYTH, D.B.E.,

MUS. DOC.

SIR SQUIRE SPRIGGE.

H. M. TOMLINSON.

PROP. G. M. TREVELYAN, O.M.

R. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, MUS. DOC.

*HUGH WALPOLE.

H. G. WELLS.

PERCY WHITE.

W. B. YEATS.

FIELD, ROSCOE & Co., 36, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W.C.2.

Solicitors.

PAUL N. TURNER, 1472, Broadway, New York, U.S.A.

Legal Representative in America.

D. KILHAM ROBERTS, Secretary

Barrister-at-Law

W. A. FULLER, Assistant Secretary,

Barrister-at-Law.

Telephone No.: MUSEUM 1664 (2 LINES)
Telegrams: AUTORIDAD, WESTCENT, LONDON

OFFICES-11, GOWER STREET, LONDON, W.C.1.

October 28th 1932.

Norman Douglas Esq.,
c/o Thomas Cook,
Via Tornabuoni,
Florence.

Dear Sir,

I have your letter of the 24th October and agree with
you that in the circumstances there seems very little prospect of
legal proceedings proving successful, but if you would like me to
do so I will gladly write to Mr. Cerf on your behalf in an
endeavour to induce him to honour his moral obligations. Pending
hearing further from you in the matter I am retaining the
enclosures which accompanied your previous letter.

DKR/DG.

Norman Douglas Esq.

- 2 -

Washington in your name and if the Introduction is printed in
copies of the Modern Library edition on which no royalty has been
paid - and (2) on the question whether Mr. Cerf's undertaking to
continue to pay you the royalty previously paid by Mr. Liveright
was an undertaking given for good consideration, and therefore
binding; or whether it was a gratuitous promise revocable by
Mr. Cerf at will.

It is not altogether inconceivable, even if the United
States copyright in the Introduction was, if registered at all,
not registered in your name with the result that you had nothing to
give Mr. Cerf in return for his undertaking, that consideration for
the undertaking came from Mr. Liveright between whom and Mr. Cerf
some wider contractual relationship may exist providing among its
terms for the continued payment to you of the royalties you agreed
with Mr. Liveright.

If you will let me have such information as you can on
these various points and will forward to me any documents
which you may have bearing upon them in any way I will write to you
again and more fully on the matter.

DKR/DG.

COUNCIL:

*MAJOR IAN HAY BEITH, C.B.E., M.C.

MRS. BELLOC-LOWNDES,

J. D. BERESFORD,

LAURENCE BINYON, C.H.

THE Rt. HON. AUGUSTINE

BIRRELL, P.C.

G. K. CHESTERTON, LL.D.

THE HON. JOHN COLLIER.

MISS CLEMENCE DANE.

SIR HENRY WALFORD DAVIES, MUS. DOC.

THE REV. CANON A. C. DEANE.

*MRS. P. CHAMPION DE CRESPIGNY.

WARWICK DEEPING,

WALTER DE LA MARE.

JOHN DRINKWATER.

*ASHLEY DUKES.

*THOMAS F. DUNHILL.

ST. JOHN ERVINE.

DOUGLAS FRESHFIELD.

*MISS ROSE FYLEMAN,

JOHN GALSWORTHY, O.M.

(Chairman).

H. GRANVILLE-BARKER,

T. ANSTEY GUTHRIE, ETC.

SIR ANTHONY HOPE HAWKINS.

W. W. JACOBS.

EDGAR JEPSON.

MISS SHEILA KAYE-SMITH.

SIR STANLEY LEATHY, K.C.B.

*BENN W. LEVY.

E. V. LUCAS, C.H.

THE Rt. HON. J. RAMSAY

MACDONALD, P.C.

E. J. MACGILLIVRAY,

*STEPHEN MCKENNA,

Hon. Treasurer.

COMPTON MACKENZIE, LL.D.

JOHN MASEFIELD.

AYLMER MAUDE.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM.

W. B. MAXWELL.

A. A. MILNE.

PROF. GILBERT MURRAY, M.A.

THE Rt. HON. SIR HENRY

NORMAN, BART.

MRS. PERRIN.

ROLAND PERTWEE,

EDEN PHILLFOTTS.

SIR ARTHUR PINERO.

THE Rt. HON. SIR FREDERICK

POLLOCK, BART., P.C., Etc.

*J. B. PRIESTLEY.

ARTHUR RACKHAM,

*MISS ELEANOR RATHBONE,

M.A., M.P.

*ERNEST RAYMOND,

SIR OWEN SEAMAN.

G. BERNARD SHAW.

MISS MAY SINCLAIR.

DAME ETHEL SMYTH, D.B.E.,

MUS. DOC.

SIR SQUIRE SPRIGGS.

H. M. TOMLINSON.

PROF. G. M. TREVELYAN, O.M.

*HUGH WALPOLE.

H. G. WELLS.

PERCY WHITE.

W. B. YEATS.

FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG.

D. KILHAM ROBERTS, Secretary,
Barrister-at-Law.

December 28th 1932.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Since receiving your letter of the 15th December I
have been engaging in a certain amount of detective work
in regard to the various American editions of South Wind without
great success. Would you have any objection to my communicating
with Mr. Martin Secker who is, I understand, the English
publisher of the book, and finding out from him whether he can
throw any light on the fact that among the American publishers who,
according to Mr. Cerf, have offended against the accepted rule
under which American firms of standing pay a royalty on all books
by living authors which they publish whether these works enjoy
protection under the American statute or not, are the names of
Macmillan & Boni? Perhaps it would be as well also for me to see
a copy of your agreement with Secker so that I may tell whether,
if Secker authorised any American editions without consulting you,
he was within his rights in doing so.

I cannot believe that Macmillan would take advantage
of the American Act to avoid payment of royalties unless they
had first got into touch with somebody who professed to be in a
position to authorise them to proceed with or without consideration.

If it turns out that Macmillan have been guilty of a

Norman Douglas Esq.

- 2 -

breach of the rule I should like to bring the matter up before
the Publishers' Association and invite that body to co-operate with
the Society of Authors in bringing moral pressure to bear.

Once all the other American publishers of South Wind
have paid or are paying something for the privilege of publishing
it Cerf will find it difficult to justify the attitude which he has
adopted.

Yours very truly,

DKR/DG.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

84 DRAYTON GARDENS
LONDON S.W.10

Telephone: Fremantle 6642 (2 lines)

President:
John Masefield, O.M.

Chairman:
Arthur Bryant, C.B.E., LL.D.

Secretary-General:
D. Kilham Roberts, O.B.E.

12th October, 1950.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
Villa Tuoro,
Capri,
Naples.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am a little worried that I have
heard nothing from you in reply to my
letters of August 28th, September 6th
and September 19th. There is a
particular urgency in the case of
Mr. Stafford Byrne as it appears that
he has already interested a management
in his dramatic version of "South Wind".

I should also like to be getting a
move on over "Venus in the Kitchen".
I described the present situation in the
first paragraph of my letter to you
of August 28th.

With kindest regards,
Yours sincerely,

dkr.gc.ms.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

84 DRAYTON GARDENS
LONDON S.W.10.

11th January, 1949.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you very much for your
letter of the 31st December. I
have told Mr. Roger Burford of your
decision with regard to SOUTH WIND.

We have made a note of your
change of address for future
reference.

amk.amt

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

19th January, 1949.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Since my letter to you of January 11th we have had a further letter from Mr. Roger Burford of Christopher Mann Ltd. Mr. Burford writes that he is anxious for us to ask you - if you are not already entirely committed - on what terms you would be prepared to consider a proposal from them. He would then put any suggestion you care to make to Mr. Richard Llewellyn.

We have told Mr. Burford that we think this is a fairly forlorn hope but that we will put it to you.

amk.bms

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

11th July, 1949.

N. Douglas, Esq.,
Vicla Tuoro,
Capri,
Naples.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I have this morning received a letter from John Davenport
in which he writes:-

"Norman Douglas, who is a very old friend of mine, suggested to Roger Senhouse that I write a book about his 'priceless works'. I have signed a contract with them to do this, and shall go down to Capri to see N.D. at the end of the summer. Now Stephen Potter who's editing The Leader has asked me to 'pot' South Wind in a series they are running. This means 1,000 words about the author and 1,800 words including quotations about the book. Secker & Warburg are agreeable but I can't go ahead until I have your authorization. Is it all right to do this? N.D. will I know be agreeable in his turn."

I have also received this morning a letter from Lindsay
Drummond in which he says:-

"... I am really writing about Norman Douglas' "Late Harvest". As you know we reprinted the book, but it has not gone well and we still have a thousand sheets and a good deal of bound stock. I do not think that the book has ever been published in America and, if not, could you give us permission to offer our stock to publish over there. In any transaction of this kind we always try to get the American publisher to pay the author a royalty on his published price. But failing this, we can only pay a percentage - generally ten per cent of our net proceeds.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

28th July, 1949.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
Vicla Tuoro,
Capri,
Naples.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for your letter of the 21st July and for
the copy of your letter to Harold Raymond of the same date.
We have made a note of your appointment of Mr. Kenneth
Macpherson to share the duties of your literary executor
with Willie King, and he for his part knows presumably of
the Society's handling of your literary business.

I have had word passed to John Davenport to the effect
that he may go ahead with the project about which he wrote
to me, and I am telling Lindsay Drummond about the *Late*
*Harvest* position.

With kindest regards and all good wishes,
Sincerely yours,

dkr.rbc.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Chairman:
Sir Osbert Sitwell, BT., LL.D.

Secretary-General
D. Kilham Roberts, O.B.E.

14th October, 1949

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I enclose a copy of a letter which Lindsay Drummond has received from Harold Strauss of the American publishing firm of Knopf. Will you leave it to me to decide with Lindsay Drummond whether any offer which materialises is worth accepting?

James Knapp-Fisher has been in touch with me about arrangements for the little book on Capri which he was discussing with you recently, and I have outlined to him the sort of terms that I consider appropriate.

I have also raised with Allen Lane the possibility of some more of your books being added to the Penguin list. He is giving some thought to the question and I will let you know if there are developments.

With kindest regards and all good wishes,
Sincerely yours,
Jenys Kilham Roberts
dkr.gc. enc.

C O P Y

ALFRED A. KNOPF INC.

501 Madison Avenue,
New York 22, N.Y.

6th October, 1949

Dear Mr. Drummond,

Thank you for your letter of October 3rd on LATE HARVEST. Miss Helen Strauss tells me that she has recently returned various Norman Douglas manuscripts to him since she feels that his minor productions are too difficult to place here, and no longer considers herself his agent. But she has promised to send over the copy of LATE HARVEST which you say you have sent to Miss Strauss.

It may be that we shall be interested in purchasing sheets or bound stock from you. We shall certainly take that suggestion into consideration at the time of final decision.

hs;jc

Lindsay Drummond, Esq.,
2 Guilford Place,
London, W.C.1. England.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

84 DRAYTON GARDENS
LONDON, S.W.10

11th November, 1949.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Very many thanks for your letter of November 2nd. On receiving it I had a further discussion with Mr. Knapp-Fisher and following a certain amount of friendly argument and concessions on both sides the contract is now ready for the signature of the parties. One copy is enclosed for your approval, signature and return and the counterpart has gone to Mr. Knapp-Fisher for completion by him.

Mr. Knapp-Fisher told me that Mr. Lyons had informed him that you and Mr. Macpherson had agreed that the MS could be delivered to Mr. Knapp-Fisher by the third week in December and in the circumstances Mr. Knapp-Fisher proposes to pay the whole of the £250 on delivery instead of in two instalments as originally proposed. You will observe, however, that under the terms of the contract the closing date for delivery appears as the first week of January 1950, so as to allow a further fortnight's margin. Mr. Knapp-Fisher has agreed to send you twelve complimentary copies of the book instead of the usual six and, while he has not agreed to restrict his licence to publication in the English language only, he has agreed to confine it to publication in volume form. I think I may yet succeed in persuading him to agree to your receiving some share in the proceeds from volume publication in other languages but even if he won't meet us over this he has certainly contented himself with much less than was originally in his mind and is paying rather more for it. You will also observe that the contract may be terminated if the book is allowed to go out of print for a period of twelve months or more and in certain other eventualities. Another thing that is important is that Mr. Knapp-Fisher has accepted a licence instead of an assignment of rights since this means that the book cannot be altered without your consent.

With kindest regards,

Yours sincerely,

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

84 DRAYTON GARDENS
LONDON S.W. 10.

25

17th March, 1948.

William King, Esq.,
Garrick Club,
W.C.2.

Dear Mr. King,

We have been endeavouring for the past few months to extract from Farrar & Straus their reaction to the proposal that they should publish a Norman Douglas omnibus volume in the United States.

I have now received a letter from Mr. John Farrar and I am sorry to say his reply is negative. Mr. Farrar writes as follows:

"We have been going over the matter of the Norman Douglas omnibus very carefully and I am terribly sorry to have put you people to all this trouble. I can understand Mr. Douglas' feeling but, on the other hand, I believe that for us, at any rate, the republication of the complete works would be very difficult."

We are making an approach to another American publisher and I will let you know if these negotiations prove successful.

18 March 1948.

My dear Norman,
This is sad but not altogether unexpected. "Complete works" is presumably a mistake for "complete novels." David L. Hutton both kompli at the news of Emilio's death. Was it illness or accident?

amk.amt

P.S. Douglas Parish goes to Athens next Tuesday on his way to Rome & Taormina. Does not know whether he will get to Capri or not.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

1st June, 1948.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
Unghia Marina 7,
Isola Capri,
Prov: Napoli,
Italy.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am writing to tell you that the last
statement we have received from Lindsay Drummond, in respect
of the sales of LATE HARVEST up to December 31st, 1947, shows
a balance to your credit of £208. 9s. 5d. I shall be grate-
ful if you will very kindly let me know whether you wish us
to apply to the Bank of England for permission to remit this
payment to you in Italy. As Mr. Kilham Roberts explained
in his letter to you of June 13th of last year, we are under
obligation to withhold tax at the current rate before send-
ing the money to you. This would leave approximately
£103. 3s. 11d. after deduction of commission.

Yours very sincerely,

amk.bms

Assistant to the Secretary-General
(Authors Representation Department)

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

15th June, 1948.

22

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for your letter of June 7th. We have followed
your instructions.

Mr. Kilham Roberts thought you might be interested to
hear that he has had a talk with Mr. Roger Senhouse about
arrangements for French language publication of a number of
your books. There seems to be a distinct possibility that
Robert Marin may take over from Fontaine some of the books
which Fontaine had contracted to publish as well as one or
two others. Mr. Kilham Roberts has asked Mr. Senhouse to
lunch with him one day soon so that they can go more fully
into the matter together. Meanwhile, we have heard from
Editions Charlot that LOOKING BACK is now positively in course
of being printed. This does something to relieve our fears
that Charlot, like Fontaine, were in difficulties.

1.cd.amt

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

9th May, 1946.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I telephoned Mr. Cork after receiving your letter, and explained the position and your wishes to him. I kept the conversation as friendly as possible, but even so, it all seems to have come as rather a shock to him. He has promised to write, and as soon as his letter arrives, I will send you a copy of it. It is quite possible, of course, that he may communicate with you in the meantime.

What I emphasised to him in particular was that you were anxious to have all your literary affairs in the Society's hands, but that where he had any legal or moral claim to a commission interest in existing contracts, the Society would be perfectly willing to come to some amicable arrangement with him, so long as this did not involve your being landed with a total commission in excess of 10%.

With kindest regards,

Yours sincerely,

DKR/Z

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

9th May, 1946.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

With kindest regards,

Yours sincerely,

DKR/Z

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

21st June, 1946.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
c/o British Consulate-General,
Naples.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Many thanks for your letter and for telling me where
we may address letters to you in Italy. I am so sorry that we
did not have an opportunity of meeting before your departure.

I am worried that neither Mr. Cork nor Roger Senhouse
has been in touch with you about the proposal that the Society
should take over the handling of your British as well as foreign
business. When I spoke about this to Mr. Cork on the telephone
some time ago with particular emphasis on SOUTH WIND Mr. Cork
promised to telephone me again or write to me as soon as he had
looked up his papers and given the situation a little thought.
He did not do so, and some days later when he was reminded, he
answered that he had been in touch with Secker and Warburg and
that they were going to communicate with you. It is very odd
that they have not done so, especially since in strict law they
are not on very firm ground until their position as publishers
of SOUTH WIND has been regularized.

It is disappointing that Lindsay Drummond has chosen
a small type for LATE HARVEST. I imagine that only by doing so
could he produce an edition of the size contemplated, but it is
none the less annoying.

With my best wishes and kindest regards,

Yours sincerely,

DKR/JB.

AIR MAIL

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

25th July, 1946.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

On receiving your letter of
July 6th I wrote again to Cork and I
now enclose a copy of my letter, a
copy of his reply received this morning,
and a copy of the further letter which
I have just dictated.

I think it would now be a
good idea for you to write to Cork
briefly explaining that you want to
have the management of your literary
affairs concentrated in the Society's
hands to avoid possible complications
in the future, adding that the arrange-
ment indicated in his letter and slightly
elaborated in mine has your blessing.
If it has.

I haven't heard anything from
the actor or film producer you mentioned
who was showing an interest in THEY WENT.
If you know his name and will let me
have it I will get after him.

With all good wishes,

Sincerely yours,

DKR/JB.

Encs: 3.

25th July, 1946.

Edmund Cork, Esq.,
Messrs. Hughes Massie & Co.,
40, Fleet Street,
E.C.4.

Dear Mr. Cork.

Norman Douglas

Many thanks for your letter of July 24th.

I am, as you know, most anxious to get this all fixed up and stabilized in the friendliest possible way, and so I know is Norman Douglas. So far as the Society is concerned, therefore, I am perfectly agreeable to the proposal you make, the understanding being that the present edition of SOUTH WIND proceeds without the Society's being involved in any way, but that the Society will be responsible for the arrangements for any future editions and for the collection of royalties etc. due in respect of them, paying over to you half of the 10% commission except, of course, in cases in which completely new contracts may be made with firms which have not hitherto been associated with the publication of the book.

A similar arrangement would apply to other books by Norman Douglas on which royalties are at present payable to Hughes Massie, and it would be most helpful if you could let me know which these books are, at the same time forwarding to me the relevant contracts or copies of them. If it would save you trouble, I could have copies of the contracts made here and return the originals to you.

Meanwhile, I am writing to Mr. Douglas to tell him of your suggestion.

With kindest regards,

Yours sincerely,

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS,
84, Drayton Gardens,
S.W.10.

25th July, 1946.

Dear Mr. Cork,

Norman Douglas

With kindest regards,

Yours sincerely,

(Signed) Denys Kilham Roberts.

DKR/JB.

HUGHES MASSIE & CO. LTD.
COPYRIGHT AGENTS.

40, Fleet Street,
London, E.C.4.

24th.July. 1946.

D. Kilham Roberts Esq.,
The Society of Authors,
84, Drayton Gardens.
S.W.10.

Dear Mr. Kilham Roberts,

I must apologise for the delay - due to my absence from town - in replying to your letter of July 15th regarding Norman Douglas.

The last time we heard from this author our relations were most cordial, and when he said that he wanted your Society to handle his foreign rights I agreed at once. But there was no suggestion that rights that were covered by contracts we had negotiated were to be taken out of our hands, and I have been distressed not to have heard direct from Mr. Douglas about this, but only through you.

There is no doubt that Mr. Douglas approved of the arrangement for the new definitive edition of "SOUTH WIND", and it seems to me only equitable that we should have commission on this, but in all the circumstances I would be prepared to split the commission equally on any further variations of contracts which we originally negotiated.

15th July, 1946.

Dear Mr. Cork,

I am rather disturbed at having heard nothing further
following my telephone conversation with you on the subject of
Norman Douglas's wish that the Society of Authors in taking
over charge of all his literary business should also negotiate
a new Agreement with Secker and Warburg for SOUTH WIND.

I gathered that you discussed the situation with
Senhouse and that you understood that he would be having a word
with Norman Douglas, but Norman Douglas writing to me from Naples
tells me that he has heard nothing.

In the circumstances, I should like you to drop me a
line letting me have your views and telling me at the same time
whether the suggestion which I put to you over the telephone seems
to you a fair and reasonable way of dealing with the matter.

DKR/JB.

Secretary-General.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

AIR MAIL

6th December, 1946.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
7, Unghia Marina,
Isola Capri,
Napoli.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

First of all, with regard to your Dutch friend who
wants to translate SOUTH WIND: the way seems clear and if he
will write to me I will make all the necessary arrangements on
your behalf.

In the case of Mr. Cork, as things are at present left,
my letter to him of July 25th, of which I am enclosing a further
copy in case you can't easily turn up the copy which I sent you
earlier, needs confirmation in the form of a letter from you to
Mr. Cork approving the solution outlined. This solution leaves
the future management of your literary affairs entirely in the
hands of the Society which will pay Messrs Hughes Massie half of
its 10% commission on royalties received from publishers who have
hitherto been accounting to them. I think it is worth while
making this concession in order to get the situation straightened
out, and you will not of course yourself be in any way the loser
by it. It will also then be possible for us to get down to a
new agreement with Secker and Warburg for future editions of
SOUTH WIND. Warburg and Senhouse know already that this is what
you want, but they don't appear to be anxious to proceed with the
negotiations until the Cork complication has been settled and
disposed of. The address of Messrs Hughes Massie, as I expect
you remember is 40, Fleet Street, E.C.4.

Lindsay Drummond was lunching with me the other day.
I gather he has been generally complimented on the way in which
he has produced LATE HARVEST. I know you were rather disappointed
with the size of type employed when you saw the book in proof, but
in its finished form the book is certainly attractive, and dozens
of people have told me what joy they have had in reading it. We
haven't yet got anything fixed with am American publisher, but I
hope we shall have news for you in this connexion before long.

With warmest regards and all good wishes,

dkr/jb.

Yours sincerely,

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Temporary Address:—BRIARLEA HOUSE, MORTIMER, BERKSHIRE.

31st July, 1945.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am sorry that Miss Kesteven has
been bothering you about her claim for
commission on any contract that may
materialise with Sagittaire. In my
last letter to her I wrote:—

"I am afraid we can't help you about commission. I feel sure, however, that if you explain to Le Sagittaire that they have you to thank for obtaining for them the chance of French publication of this extremely important book, they will wish to reward you appropriately for your services, assuming that a contract materialises. In this connection, Sagittaire had better write direct to the Society confirming the offer which you have submitted on their behalf."

It would be preposterous if foreign
publishers' representatives in this country
got the impression that they could collect
commission from the author for services
they have rendered to the publisher. It
is bad enough already with most of the

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-2-

ordinary commercial agencies employing
sub-agents and stinging their clients for
commission in the region of 20%. If the
publisher's representative is also going
to expect a rake-off, there will soon be
nothing left for the author at all!

The principle on which the Society
works is that in no circumstances whatever
will the authors for whom it acts have to
pay more than 10% in commission.

When I hear direct from M. Pierre
Quint, I will explain the position to
him.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Temporary Address: —BRIARLEA HOUSE, MORTIMER, BERKSHIRE.

3rd August, 1945.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I enclose a copy of a letter which has
arrived this morning from Harold Raymond
crossing mine to him.

I imagine that in the circumstances
you won't want me to pursue negotiations
with Chatto, but I won't reply to Raymond
until I hear from you.

If Raymond is right in saying that
the typescript is now in your hands, will
you very kindly return it to me with your
reply.

I have also had a letter today from
Fontaine asking rather urgently for two
copies of the English edition of Old
Calabria instead of the one copy for
which they originally asked. If your
publishers have none in stock and you have
none that you can possibly spare, you might
perhaps be able to obtain the loan of a
couple from friends. I would tell
Fontaine to be careful of them and to
return them as soon as the translation
has been completed.

Over

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Temporary Address :- BRIARLEA HOUSE, MORTIMER, BERKSHIRE

17th July, 1945.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Our negotiations with French publishers in regard to your books have this morning borne further fruit.

Sagittaire now say that they would like to acquire the French rights of *Alone* and would be prepared to pay on signature of the Agreement £50 which is the amount we suggested as an advance on royalties. We proposed that the royalties should start at 10% and to this Sagittaire won't agree, but would be prepared to agree to a starting royalty of 8%, rising to 10% if and when 10,000 copies have been sold. I think we had better accept this, don't you?

At the same time, Fontaine is willing to pay a £40 advance for the French translation rights of *Old Calabria*, on account of a 7½% royalty rising to 10% after the sale of 5,000 copies.

On hearing from you that you would like me to do so, I will prepare an Agreement for your own and the publishers' signature. Fontaine would want a copy of the book if you can provide one for the purpose of translation.

Harold Raymond seems to be taking his time over *Late Harvest* and I am writing to him again today to stir him up.

With kindest regards,

P.S. I think I mentioned to you in an earlier letter that I am one of the editors of ORION, the new literary Miscellany, the first issue of which had a wonderful reception at the hands of the principal critics when it came out in January. The second issue

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-2-

is now with the printers and a third is in process of compil-
ation with a view to publication towards the end of the year.
My fellow-editors are Edwin Muir, Rosamond Lehmann and Cecil
Day Lewis, and I think they would all very much like the idea
of including in Orion 3 one of the sections of _Late Harvest_
if you are willing.

Payment for Orion contributions is fairly liberal compared
with the rates paid by most literary periodicals.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

1st November, 1945.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Monsieur Pierre-Quint of Sagittaire writes again, in a letter dated October 20th, that your copy of "ALONE" which we sent to him has still failed to come to hand. He is making enquiries at his end, and we have filled in the necessary forms for enquiries to be made on this side, and we can only hope for the best. Meanwhile Monsieur Pierre-Quint has signed and returned the Agreement with a suggested amendment to the clause dealing with the publication date. He wants to have twentyfour months from receipt of an English language copy of the book, and puts his request as follows:

"Nous nous sommes permis également de changer le délai lui-même, qui était de 12 mois dans votre contrat, en 24 mois, délai qui nous est généralement accordé: il nous faut en effet le temps de faire traduire le livre, et compter sur les difficultés que nous sommes susceptibles de recontrer au cours de la fabrication dans les circonstances présentes. Nous pensons qu'en fait nous pourrons réduire sensiblement ce délai et nous vous le demandons seulement par prudence."

He adds that he is making arrangements for his representative in New York to send him a copy, and also that he is going ahead with the necessary formalities involved in the transmission of the £50 payable in advance.

I suggest that, in all the circumstances, we had better allow Sagittaire the extended time limit, but I will not reply to Monsieur Pierre-Quint's letter until I hear from you.

DKR/CMD

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

25th October, 1945.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Very many thanks for signing and returning the
Agreement with Lindsay Drummond for "LATE HARVEST".

I have been on the telephone to the firm this
morning, and I understand that, although the Agreement is
somewhat stiff in its general terms, Lindsay Drummond is
willing to sign it, but asks for two minor concessions.
These can be dealt with by letter; one is that the firm
should be allowed to have its licence to publish in book
form in the English language in the British Empire (exclud-
ing Canada) extended by the addition of the words "with
freedom of entry" to other parts of the world, except the
U.S.A. and Canada; and the second that the prescribed
royalty, in the event of any remainder sale, should be
payable only on remainder copies sold above cost.

These requests seem to me to be reasonable enough
in the circumstances, although I can hardly think there is
any need for Lindsay Drummond to bother his head about the
possibility of remainder sales with this book!

The first concession would not, of course, in any
way affect arrangements we may make with an American publish-
er, or with publishers wishing to publish the book in trans-
lation, nor would it debar us from making arrangements for
the publication of an English language continental edition
with Bonnier or one of the other firms interested in English
language continental rights.

DKR/CMD

FONTAINE

REVUE MENSUELLE DES LETTRES FRANCAISES

Jaques B. Brunius 20 Earl's Terrace, W.8.

October 6th 1945.

D. Kilham Roberts Esq.,
The Society of Authors,
Briarlea House,
Mortimer, Berks.

Dear Mr Kilham Roberts,

Many thanks for your letter of October 5th. The idea of selecting stories from various books by Mr. Norman Douglas is to find the best way of presenting him to the French public, as strangely enough he is very little known in France. I hope Fontaine, by publishing _Old Calabria_ and a collection of stories will fill this purpose, and that it will then be possible to publish his books as they were originally. I perfectly understand that a selection made by Fontaine should not debar him from publishing the complete volumes of _Three of Them_ and _Experiments_, and I think the contract should allow him to do so. But on the other hand it would not be fair if the publication of such volumes could take place before the publication of the selection.

There appears therefore to be a compromise satisfactory to both parties:

a) Fontaine would buy the French rights in a selection of short stories or articles.

b) Fontaine would have the first refusal for the French rights in the whole books of _Three of Them_ and _Experiments_.

c) In case Fontaine should not want to publish the whole books, Mr. Norman Douglas should be free to sell the rights in them to any other French publisher, with the proviso that they should not be brought out before Fontaine's selection.

If you agree to these general terms I think the matter can easily be arranged.

The choice I would suggest is as follows:-
from _Experiments_ - The Correct Thing.
  At the Forge.
  Belladonna.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Telephone: Kensington B155X (2 lines) X 9665

24th September, 1945.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for the page proof
copy of "AN ALMANAC", which I am sending
off today to Farrar & Rinehart.

I will let you know in due
course how the negotiations develop.

I also hope to let you know
in the course of a few days what Lindsay
Drummond has got to say about "LATE
HARVEST".

With kind regards,

DKR/CMD

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Temporary Address :—BRIARLEA HOUSE, MORTIMER, BERKSHIRE.

2nd August, 1945.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Very many thanks for your letter
and enclosures.

As soon as Fontaine has signed the
counterpart of the Old Calabria Agree-
ment, I will send you a copy for your
records.

I shall presumably be hearing from
Raymond or Parsons within a day or two
about Late Harvest and as soon as I do
I will let you know what proposal they
have to make and whether in my opinion
it might serve as a basis for negoti-tions. If they suggest alterations
I will ask them to return the typescript
so that we may set about finding a
different publisher for it, but I imagine
that they will realise following your
conversation with Parsons that you are
not prepared to consider making any
changes at all in the text. Meanwhile,
I am sending the Index to them to be
attached to the typescript and, if
necessary, returned with it.

With kindest regards,

Sincerely yours,

CHATTO & WINDUS

40-42 William IV Street,
London W.C.2.

1st August, 1945.

Dear Kilham Roberts,

Ian Parsons telephoned me last night to say that he had had a talk with Norman Douglas about "Late Harvest". Norman turned down the suggestion of combining the two versions of the book, which would have resulted in an anthology of his work as a whole, with editorial and bibliographical comments on each of the books, with the further addition of a certain amount of new matter, particularly the comments on the island of Ischia.

I am sorry about this because I can't help feeling that a good deal of the present MS would not convey much to a reader unless he were already a Norman fan and the possessor of most of Norman's works; and if a man does not already possess those books, he knows when he may get the opportunity of doing so. Also a combination of the two books would have helped from a manufacturing point of view, because I was hoping that Secker & Warburg would be able to contribute a portion of the paper. However, Norman felt very definitely that he could not marry the two MSS so there is nothing more to be said on that point, and we can only return to the problem of publishing it in its existing form.

Here I am afraid we must prove a disappointment. Our paper quota for this current period of July to October has been booked months ago, and the demands on the quota for the following four months period are so heavy that we could not at the moment promise to allocate out of it more than enough to achieve an edition of 2,500. That at 8/6d - and I do not think the book would stand more - would only yield about £150, and I am sure Norman wouldn't think much of that as a proposition.

I am afraid, therefore, you must count us out and try your luck elsewhere, and I can only thank you and Norman for giving us the first opportunity of considering the book. The MS is at present with him.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

27 th July, 1945.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Very many thanks.

I hope you will succeed in finding
a spare copy of _Old Calabria_ for Fontaine.
Meanwhile, here's the Agreement for your
approval and signature.

The lady through whom we were
negotiating with Sagittaire in connection
with the French rights of _Alone_ now seems
to have no proper status as Sagittaire's
representative and I have asked her to
put Sagittaire into touch with us direct
for confirmation of terms.

With regard to _Late Harvest_, I wrote
again to Harold Raymond and am enclosing
a copy of a letter I have received from
him this morning.

With kindest regards,

Sincerely yours,

P.S. I will ask Fontain to try to find
out for you the name of the pub-
lisher and French translator of
*South Wind*.

C O P Y

CHATTO & WINDUS

40-42, William IV Street, W.C.2.

25th July, 1945.

HR/HA

Dear Kilham Roberts,

Please don't think I have fallen asleep on that Norman Douglas question, but I found that my partner, Ian Parsons, had met him recently at lunch and N.D. had mentioned the book. Parsons is still heavily engaged at the Air Ministry, though anxious to get out; but he has found time to read the MS. and is lunching with N.D. very shortly.

He is going to suggest what we both feel would be a good thing, namely, that the two versions of "Late Harvest" should be combined.

I will write to you again very shortly as soon as I hear N.D.'s reaction to this proposal. Parsons won't discuss terms with him, but merely the form which the book might take.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

*Temporary Address:* --BRIARLEA HOUSE, MORTIMER, BERKSHIRE.

DKR/KL.

12th February 1945.

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

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Some little time ago another member of the Society asked me if I could procure for him from a Solicitor some draft clauses for insertion in his Will covering the appointment of his literary executor, and I am enclosing a copy of these clauses in case you may find them useful, either as they stand or in some modified form.

If your friend is prepared to act as your literary executor there is really no necessity for you to have a special agreement with him, but it might be a good idea to get him to write a letter to you confirming his willingness to act in accordance with the provisions of your Will as amplified in any instructions which you may care to give him privately. I think incidentally that it might be a good idea for you to stipulate that the Society is to be appointed to act as literary representative of your Estate just as it does for the Estates of A.E. Housman, Laurence Binyon, W.W. Jacobs, Katherine Mansfield and various other eminent writers.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

DKR/KL.

3rd November 1944.

Dear Mr. Norman Douglas,

In the agreement
with Senor Janes I stipulated that copies
of the Spanish editions of the two books
were to be sent to us for you when
publication took place, but I am writing
to remind Senor Janes about this. I think
it is possible that neither book is yet
on sale in Spain on account of censorship
and other delays.

The Society is
putting through a considerable number of
translation agreements at the present time
for those members for whom it acts as
literary representative, and if you would
care to let us know which foreign rights
of your various books have not hitherto
been disposed of, we will gladly see what
we can arrange.

THE INCORPORATED SOCIETY OF
AUTHORS PLAYWRIGHTS & COMPOSERS

PRESIDENT, JOHN MASEFIELD, O.M., LITT.D., LL.D., D.LITT.

COUNCIL

*FREDERIC AUSTIN
EARL BALDWIN OF BEWDLEY, P.C., K.G., ETC.

WING-COMMR. THE HON. MAURICE
BARING, O.B.E.

*MAJ.-GEN. IAN HAY BEITH, C.B.E., M.C.

MRS. BELLOC-LOWDNES

*MISS PHYLIS BENTLEY
J. D. BERESFORD
LAURENCE BINYON, C.H., LL.D., D.LITT.

THE RT. HON. THE VISCOUNT
CECIL OF CHELWOOD, P.C., K.C., ETC.

NOEL COWARD
MISS CLEMENCE DANE

THE REV. CANON A. C. DEANE
WARWICK DEEPING, M.A.

WALTER DE LA MARE, LITT.D.
ASHLEY DUKES

THOMAS F. DUNHILL, MUS. DOC.
THE LORD DUNSANY, LITT.D.

ST. JOHN ERVINE, LL.D.
E. M. FORSTER, LL.D.

MISS ROSE FYLEMAN
THE LORD GORELL, C.B.E., M.C.

H. GRANVILLE-BARKER, LL.D.
SIR RICHARD GREGORY, B.T., F.R.S.

LAURENCE HOUSMAN
W. W. JACOBS

MISS STORM JAMESON
MISS GERTRUDE JENNINGS
MISS SHEILA KAYE-SMITH

MISS MARGARET KENNEDY
E. V. KNOX

MISS ROSAMOND LEHMANN
*ERNEST RAYMOND

E. J. MACGILLIVRAY, K.C.
STEPHEN MCKENNA

COMPTON MACKENZIE, O.B.E., LL.D.
THE VERY REV. W. R. MATTHEWS, K.C.V.O.

W. SOMERSET MAUGHAM
A. A. MILNE
CHARLES MORGAN

R. H. MOTTRAM
PROF. GILBERT MURRAY, O.M., LL.D.

A. M. MILNE
ALFRED NOYES, C.B.E., LL.D., LITT.D.

ROLAND PERTWEE
EDEN PHILLPOTTS
J. B. PRIESTLEY, M.A., LL.D., D.LITT.

*ERNEST RAYMOND
ALFRED NOYES, C.B.E., LL.D., LITT.D.

*MISS ROSAMOND LEHMANN
*THE HON. HAROLD NICOLSON, C.M.G., M.P.

THE HON. V. SACKVILLE-WEST
BERNARD SHAW

MISS MAY SINCLAIR
OSBERT SITWELL

DAME ETHEL SMYTH, D.B.E., MUS. DOC.
JOHN STRACHEY

*L. A. G. STRONG, Hon. Treasurer
H. M. TOMLINSON

PROF. G. M. TREVELYAN, O.M., C.B.E.,
W. J. TURNER

*W. J. TURNER
GENERAL SIR ARCHIBALD WAVELL,
G.C.B., C.M.G., M.C.

R. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS, O.M., MUS. DOC.

H. G. WELLS
MISS REBECCA WEST

P. G. WODEHOUSE, D.LITT.
FRANCIS BRETT YOUNG

* MEMBERS OF COMMITTEE OF MANAGEMENT

SECRETARY: D. KILHAM ROBERTS, M.A., Barrister-at-Law.

OFFICES: 84, DRAYTON GARDENS, LONDON, S.W.10
TEMPORARY ADDRESS: BRIARLEA HOUSE, MORTIMER, BERKSHIRE

March 10th 1943.

Norman Douglas Esq.,
16 Half Moon Street,
London, W.1.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

You will remember that in August last we told you
that we were in touch with a Spanish publisher who was
interested in the Spanish translation rights of *Old Calabria*
and *South Wind*, and that you authorised us to handle
negotiations for you on a basis of payment of £30 in respect
of each book. Senor Janés, the publisher in question, has
now written to us that he is prepared to agree to these terms,
and to our further suggestion that in each case additional
payments at the rate of £5 a thousand copies are to be made in
the event of his publishing any subsequent edition or editions:
the first edition not to exceed 6000 copies.

We are enclosing agreements which we have prepared
for your signature, and, when we receive these back from you,
we will forward them to Senor Janés with counterparts for him
to sign and return to us. The £60 payable on signing will,
in due course, arrive via the Anglo-Spanish Clearing House, but
there is usually a delay of several months which, we are assured
by the British Council, is not the fault of Senor Janés.

1/DG.
Enclosures.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Telephone / Kensington 0155 (2 lines)

BRIARLEA HOUSE
MORTIMER
BERKS.

August 7th 1942.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for your letter of August 7th.

We are writing to the Spanish publisher concerned, indicating the terms on which the Spanish translation rights of the two books in question are available. On hearing from him that these terms are acceptable to him we will send you word, and draw up contracts accordingly.

We have made a note of your new address and telephone number.

1/DG.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Telephone, Kensington 0155 (2 lines)

BRIARLEA HOUSE
MORTIMER
BERKSHIRE.

July 21st 1942.

Norman Douglas Esq.,
at Symonds House,
34 Brook Street,
London, W.1.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

A Spanish publisher, Senor José Janés, with whom we have been in contact through the British Council, tells us that he would be prepared to buy the Spanish translation rights of _Old Calabria_ and _South Wind_, if they are available.

If you are interested you would perhaps like the Society to handle negotiations for you, and in that case we should be obliged if you would let us know roughly what you have in mind in the way of terms.

1/DG.

Telephone:
MAYfair 1421

Christopher Mann, Ltd.,
140 Park Lane,
London, W.1.

CM/JB

22nd September, 1948.

The Society of Authors, Playwrights and Composers,
84 Drayton Gardens,
London, S.W. 10.

Dear Sirs,

We have been asked by one of our clients to enquire
whether the film rights of "South Wind", by Norman Douglas,
are available, and whether it would be possible for him to
acquire a year's option with a view to ultimate purchase.

We regret we have little information as to the project
which has prompted the enquiry. The Client in question
is the author Mr. Richard Llewellyn, who is now on the
Continent and who would like the information as soon as
possible, to further discussions he would like to conclude
before returning to England. We assume that he would
be associated with the proposed production as the writer
adapting the story for the screen, and perhaps also as a
production executive.

We should appreciate an early reply, and hope that
in this you will be able to quote figures.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

AIR MAIL

3rd January, 1947.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
7, Unghia Marina,
Isola Capri,
Prov:
Napoli.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Very many thanks for your two letters and for your
sympathetic message about my father's death.

The position in regard to Mr. Viggiani is that we
wrote to him in September giving him a general idea of the terms
which we regarded as appropriate for Italian publication at the
present time and leaving it to him to put interested Italian
publishers into touch with us. He has not replied, but now
that, as you tell me, his translation is completed, it should
not be long before there is something to report.

Over American publication of your ALMANAC, I think it
will be quite a good idea for your son Robin to get busy with
some preliminary negotiations with his publisher-friend. We
have ourselves sounded various American publishers without result.
They all think the book is engaging and distinguished, but nothing more happens. I am writing to your son as you suggest.

With regard to LATE HARVEST, you will, no doubt, have
seen many of the extremely cordial reviews and tributes which
have appeared. Here is a batch of them. I am trying to get
Reynal and Hitchcock to undertake publication of the book in the
U.S.A. and will keep you informed of any developments.

With all good wishes,

dkr/jb.

enc: 3.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

13th June, 1947.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
7 Unghia Marina,
Isola Capri,
Napoli.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I have now managed to have a word with Mr. Cork about the SOUTH WIND accounts statements which you sent on to me. I have also got the Society's Chief Accountant to check the figures, and it is confirmed that they are in order. It seems appalling, as you point out, that £224 should melt into £117 before it comes into your hands, but under the present regulations an agent acting for an author resident abroad is under an obligation to deduct tax at the current rate before passing the money on. A little while ago the residue would have been even slightly smaller than it is on the present occasion, owing to the reduction of basic tax from 10s. to 9s. in the pound.

I have also confirmed with Mr. Cork that the general arrangement outlined in my correspondence with him and with you in the latter part of last summer, will govern all future dealings in connection with your works.

We have had no luck yet with LATE HARVEST in America. American publishers are inclined to take the line that while the American public has the greatest respect for your name, it has only the most meagre knowledge of your work, with the exception, of course, of SOUTH WIND, and that before they could take on the publication of LATE HARVEST a great deal of introductory and educative work would need to be done. This, I think, might possibly be undertaken by my friend Victor Weybright, who was the live wire of the American Office of War Information in London during the recent war, and has now returned to America as Editorial Head of Penguin Books on that side of the Atlantic. He is definitely interested in the prospect of publishing some of your books in American PENGUINS, and I hope my negotiations with him will bear fruit. I will, of course, let you know the moment I have anything to report. Meanwhile, the arrangements we have made for French language publication of many of your books are stimulating increased interest in other European

Over.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

AIR MAIL

25th June, 1947.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
7 Unghia Marina,
Capri,
Naples, Italy.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you very much for your
letter.

I certainly think something should
be done about the mistranslations in
the French version of ALONE and I wonder
whether the best plan might not be for
you to drop a line to Monsieur Léon
Pierre-Quint, Editions du Sagittaire,
56, Rue Rodier, Paris IXe, so that the
mistakes may be corrected in any future
editions.

I'll let you know about any
Victor Weybright developments.

With warmest regards,

dkr/jb.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

1st August, 1947.

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
Unghia Marina 7,
Isola Capri,
Prov: Napoli.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

We wrote to Monsieur Tosi of Editions Denoël whose letter
to you you forwarded to me with your last letter, and have asked
him to join in the general search which is being made for inform-
ation about the mysterious edition of SOUTH WIND, originally
published in France, and now apparently sunk without trace.
There are several French publishers who would like to publish a
new French translation of the book, but they don't like to go
ahead until the ghost has been laid.

I am now enclosing a copy of a letter which has arrived
this morning from Warburg. What do you feel about his proposal?
A flat 10% royalty is, of course, preposterously meagre, but if
the edition has got to be printed in Holland it is true, as
Warburg asserts, that it will leave little margin of profit
for publisher or author, and I am inclined to think that it may
be better to accept a cut rate on this occasion than to have no
printing at all. We shall have to make it clear to Warburg, of
course, that this is not to be taken as a precedent.

Perhaps you would let me have your views.

I am just off to Belgium for a couple of weeks, but
Miss Barber, the Secretary of the Society, will be able to let
Warburg have your decision and I will then take up the threads
on my return.

With kindest regards,

dkr/kbg

I am returning to you with this letter the Hughes Massie accounts
statement for which you asked.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

AIR MAIL

19th August, 1947

Norman Douglas, Esq.,
7 Unghia Marina,
Isola Capri,
Naples, Italy.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am enclosing a further letter
which I have received from Frederic
Warburg on which I should like to have
your views. I ought also to know, if
you are able to tell me, which if any
of your books enjoy copyright protection
in the U.S.A. and which others are covered
by agreements with American publishers
on terms which would prevent an English
printed edition from being imported by
a rival house.

When replying, perhaps you would
also let me have your reactions to
Warburg's previous letter of which I
sent you a copy with my letter of 1st
August.

I don't think Warburg's present pro-
posal would in any way affect the
tentative negotiations at present proceed-
ing with Victor Weybright of American

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

1st September, 1947.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am enclosing a copy of a letter
I have just received from Warburg.

It is intended, as you will see, to
print the edition of OLD CALABRIA in
Holland from the original stereos.

I told Warburg also that you would
want half a dozen free copies on publica-
tion, and although he doesn't refer to
this request in his reply, he has no doubt
given the necessary instructions.

dkr/kbg
Enc.

MARTIN SECKER AND WARBURG LTD PUBLISHERS
7 John Street - Bloomsbury -, London W.C.1.

F. J. Warburg - R. H. P. Senhouse.

29th August, 1947.

Denys Kilham Roberts, Esq.,
The Society of Authors,
84 Drayton Gardens,
London, S.W.10.

Dear Kilham Roberts,

Thank you for your letter of the 26th August, telling us that Norman Douglas has accepted our proposed terms for the Dutch printed edition of OLD CALABRIA, on the understanding that his doing so is not taken as a precedent. This is fully understood here.

The question of sending Norman Douglas galley and page proofs of the new Edition does not arise. The stereos for OLD CALABRIA have survived the war and the bombardment, after a series of miraculous escapes. No alterations are, therefore, practicable and Mr. Douglas can be certain that the book will appear as previously printed.

With reference to your remarks about the cost of printing in Holland, in our experience the extra costs are mainly a matter of paper, for which the Dutch have to pay a fairly high price. Their composition charges are also rather higher but, of course, on a stereo book, this makes no difference. Their charges for printing are reasonable - much the same as English printing costs - but, of course, we have extra costs in getting the books over from Amsterdam: freight, in other words, adds 2d or 3d to our costs.

FJW/MS

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

20th February 1946.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Very many thanks for your letter of yesterday with the letter from Calmann-Levy enclosed. I am returning this to you herewith. Calmann-Levy are not the only French publishers fishing for <u>South Wind</u>. Brunius, Charlot and Pierre-Quint of Sagittaire are all after it, and some or all of them are trying to find out anything they can about the translation previously made and published. It is annoying that the whole thing remains such a mystery. I suppose all you can do for the moment is to tell Calmann-Levy quite frankly how things stand. The two Levy brothers came to see me at Mortimer immediately after their escape from France, and I did what I could to help and advise them. Their only visible asset was a pair of ladies' silk stockings with which, of course, they were able to effect an entree into all the best London society. I feel well disposed towards them, but in the case of your books it seems to me that Fontaine has a moral priority, and that Sagittaire and Charlot are also entitled to some consideration. Nevertheless, the door can very well be left open for Calmann-Levy with a view to their publishing some of your books that for one reason or another do not appeal to the other firms.

I will ask Senhouse to have lunch with me to discuss the English and American <u>South Wind</u> situation, and I will report in due course.

The Penguin copy of <u>Fountains in the Sand</u> should content Brunius for the moment, and it would be good if Chatto & Windus could unearth a copy of <u>How about Europe</u>. I will pass on your suggestion about <u>Pancros</u>. In a letter I have just had from Brunius he tells me that he has managed to get hold of a copy of your <u>London Street Games</u> at Hatchards.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

21st February 1946.

Enclosure.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am returning the letter you have had from Monsieur André Bélamich. I gather from a recent letter I have had from Monsieur Charlot that arrangements for his French publication of *Looking Back* are now well advanced, and I imagine that the translation has already been completed. There could, however, be no harm in Monsieur Bélamich addressing an enquiry to Monsieur Charlot if he would care to do so, and if I hear from him I will make the suggestion.

The copies of *How about Europe* and *Fountains in the Sand* will no doubt turn up by the next post and I will have them forwarded to Brunius.

DKR/LH

P.T.O.

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Telephone: Fremanfile 6642 (2 lines)

29th March, 1946.

N. Douglas, Esq.,
46 Thurloe Square,
London, S. W. 7.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

Thank you for your letter and for signing and
returning the Fontaine agreement for "In the Beginning".

I will tell Brunius what you say about the
expurgated passages, as I feel sure he would like you to
insert them in the copy of the book which he has succeeded
in getting hold of.

By today's post, I have also had a letter from
**Roger Senhouse.** He encloses the correspondence which Warburg
had with Cork in November and December 1942, on the subject
of the royalties to be paid on the then forthcoming new
edition of "South Wind". I have not yet had an opportunity
of examining the correspondence carefully, but it seems to
relate only to the edition that was then in contemplation.

In the course of next week, I will send you copies of
the correspondence with my comments.

Senhouse also encloses a copy of a letter he has
had from John Carter. This letter makes it fairly definite
that Scribners are not going to go any further with the idea
of doing a new "authorised" edition of the book in America.
I will send you a copy of this letter when I send you copies
of the others.

With kindest regards,

Sincerely Yours,

DKR/Z

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

5th April 1946.

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

Enclosure.

Dear Mr. Douglas,

I am now enclosing copies of the correspondence which passed between Warburg and Cork in November and December 1942; a copy of Roger Senhouse's latest letter to me of April 2nd in which he replies to my point that the correspondence with Cork apparently related only to the new edition of *South Wind* referred to in the first paragraph of Warburg's letter of November 25th, 1942; and a copy of John Carter's letter to Senhouse of a fortnight ago.

I do not know, of course, to what extent Cork was acting on your instructions or on his own initiative in the 1942 correspondence, but in spite of what Senhouse writes in his latest letter I remain firmly of opinion that the 1942 correspondence must be interpreted legally as dealing only with the particular edition to which it refers. It is true that as no objection seems to have been raised either by Cork or yourself to the issue of further editions on the terms then agreed between Cork and Warburg, your assent would be presumed, but nothing has happened to debar you from revising your attitude in regard to the impending edition and any editions to be published in the future, and if a new Agreement is now made, there is no reason why this should not be negotiated by the Society of Authors on your behalf instead of by Messrs. Hughes Massie. Naturally I am anxious, as no doubt you are, that Cork should not be afforded any grounds for feeling aggrieved, but he has clearly done pretty well out of the book and can hardly be justified in complaining if now that the Society of Authors is looking after all your literary affairs he disappears from the scene. Will you raise the matter with him or would you prefer me to do so? I am inclined to think that it would be best for you to tackle him in the first instance and refer him to me if he is disposed to be difficult.

DKR/LH

THE SOCIETY OF AUTHORS

Dear Mr. Douglas,

3rd May 1946.

I see from the copy of your letter to Mr. Cork and his reply which you kindly sent me with your recent letter, that although Mr. Cork has gracefully accepted the position that the Society has now, and will henceforward have the exclusive handling of your translation rights, nothing seems to have been raised about the future arrangements for English publication of *South Wind* and any other books of yours in respect of which Mr. Cork has been till now acting as your Agent in this country. I feel that this should be cleared up before we prepare the proposed new Agreement with Secker & Warburg for *South Wind*, and I should be grateful if you would just glance again over what I suggested in this connection in my letter to you of March 29th. I fear that Mr. Cork won't take so kindly to the idea of being relieved of any future duties and rewards in the Home Market as he did in the case of the Overseas Market, but, as I think I remarked in my last letter, he has obviously done pretty well out of the various English editions of the book and really has no good moral grounds of complaint over your decision that he should now depart from the scene. In fact it would appear that you have greater cause for indignation in that you were not consulted over the correspondence that passed between Mr. Cork and Warburg in 1942. If Mr. Cork says that he would like to talk to me about the situation by all means invite him to do so.

We have dealt with the letter from the Hyperion Press which you sent on.

Over the United States copyright of *Late Harvest*, nothing can be done until the book is published here when we will arrange with Lindsay Drummond for copies to go to Washington for registration. Meanwhile we have promised some American publishers a sight of the page proofs as soon as they are available.

I have kept copies of your letter of March 16th to Mr. Cork and of his reply and am returning the originals to you herewith.

Enclosure.

DKR/LH