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Dear Friends:
Returning yesterday from my holiday (which, incidentally, did not bring the hoped-for relief to my health, for I spent part of the time in bed with a perforative otitis) I find Professor's interesting letter2 here, to which I should like to add a couple of comments. The holidays and Hiller's3 absence at his home prevent their being further news about the Press. As Professor indicates, we must recognise that the Rank-Hiller-Jones undertaking has so far proved a failure, and one cannot deny the truth of his philosophic remark that »fate accepts no excuses«; as our proverb says, »nothing succeeds like success«. But, while recognising this objective and important truth, I do not find it necessary that friends should judge one another by the same unsparing standards as does fate. It is certain that three of us have all given of our best to the undertaking, in work and other ways, and we have no reason whatever to feel ashamed of the effort we have made or to regret the sacrifices it has cost.
So much for the past! Coming to the future, I have the impression that Professor over-identifies all English together and that Mrs Rivière4 plays too large a part in his total impression in this respect. I will mention only one point, but a crucial one – his statement that we believe English books cannot be set up by a German (»jedenfalls sind die Engländer nicht davon zu überzeugen«). I don't think this is true of anyone else but her and even she is willing to make the experiment. I have surely made my own standpoint clear. In my letter of Dec. 8 I fully accept Rank's view that the Verlag is able to undertake this task, and begged for a specially urgent reply on the further point whether Rank felt he was able to undertake the difficult task of mastering the technique of exporting English books from Germany in a business-like way (which I am assured is very complicated indeed). Unfortunately Rank appears to be not yet able to attend to the business, and Professor does no