You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
18 November 1920
Vienna, IX. Berggasse 19
Dear Jones,
I return your letter to Brill with many thanks. It is excellent and ought to bring him around if my last letter to him had had some effect. But, as you know, chi lo sa?1
Yesterday I sent my answer to Forsyth which had to be carefully conceived, after showing it to Rank as I wanted someone to testify how energetically I had shown him the other side of the case. I did not send his letter to you because it was labelled “private”.
You seemed irritated in your last circular about our meddling in the Brunswick affair2 and Rank's distinction between Press and shop. We defended ourselves calmly in the answer composed yesterday and hope you will find out yourself that you overshot the mark. But we are not “übelnehmerisch” [resentful] and too sure of your friendly disposition.
The affair Press versus shop appears to me so intricate and full of misunderstandings that I am ready to drop it at once. My impression is that the practical distinction between the two was not made from the beginning but offered itself to Rank in the course of events. Happily the confusion cannot lead to disastrous results. You agree to give up the London business and I think we will have no trouble about the London contributions. We accept Hiller coming over to Vienna where he has to be undertained by your money so as to justify your demands on the members of your Society. There is not the least trace of an intention on our side to dissociate the Press from the Int. Verlag nor can there come any change in our relations, when we join Kola, a possibility which by the way appears neither assured nor very near. But in this case we could easily give you the means to return the contributions, if your members object even to an unofficial contact with a foreign undertaking.
I expect in the course of the next weeks the first “Bilanz” [balance] of the Verlag, hope to find it is satisfying and to be able to introduce some improvements even in case we keep our ind