Letter from Ernest Jones to Sigmund Freud, January 4, 1924

4 January 1924
81 Harley Street, London

Dear Professor,

I was very pleased to hear from Abraham that you are resuming work on January 2nd., and am sure you will feel happier when you are back in the full tide of life.

I was also glad to get your assurance that it may be possible for us to proceed with the Press. It was a surprise to hear that Rank told you he wished to deal with the four books that we have already translated together with the rest of the general contract between Press and Verlag, because he had specifically excluded them from this contract in writing to us and said he would at some future time deal with them separately. We shall be concerned until we know exactly what conditions he proposes. It will be good when all this uncertainty and delay comes to an end.

When Jonathan Cape broke with us last August, we started entering into negociations with three or four other firms. This has all been stopped since last September, the time we had been informed that we might not have the American sales which alone would make the negociations possible. All this time salaries and other expenses have been running on, while we could neither produce nor sell. The result is that all our subscriptions and funds have been exhausted, and we are living on an overdraft at my Bank and Rickman's. We shall feel very relieved when we can hear something definite at last from Rank.

Were you satisfied with the Preface to your Collected Papers which I sent you some time go, or do you wish to suggest any modifications?1