BR requests that copies of the Alphabet be sent to: Rupert Crawshay-Williams, Julian Trevelyan, Ion Braby, A.J. Ayer, Jacob Epstein, and Kate Tait.

BR wants a copy of the Alphabet sent to Julie Medlock. "The oftener I look at your pictures the more pleasure they give me."

BR has been ill but is "now recovering".

"I long to know who is the historian who prophesies a future for it [The Good Citizen's Alphabet] in Russia. Is it Deutscher?"

Re a real life search for an Elizabeth Pickle to rule over Pickledom.

"I enclose a short preface [not present] to Professor Mmaa."

Re Professor Mmaa: "Could you explain what the Royal Society in 1781 was illustrating by the picture on the jacket? I am completely at a loss. I am very glad indeed that you have got the book published."

BR congratulates Themerson on getting British citizenship. BR is no longer allowed to drink wine.

"I am delighted to learn that the National Book League has chosen The Good Citizen's Alphabet for its exhibition of book design."

"Thank you very much for sending me The Way It Walks." "It is distressing to see what a collection of platitudes we philosophers have uttered, and I am grateful to you for infusing some intelligence into these observations."

"I very much like your suggestion of hostage towns. I would do anything to support it except live in one of them. One cannot nowadays take sons as hostages, because family affection is extinct."

Written on letterhead of the Ullswater Hotel, Glenridding, Penrith. BR and Edith are on vacation.

"We are here until the end of September, after which we shall be back at Richmond...."

"I particularly like your people who wouldn't eat tomatoes but were willing to eat people who would eat tomatoes. They seem to be average human beings. We shall be in Wales until the end of January. After that we shall be back in Richmond...."

"I don't think it would do John [Russell] any harm at all if you were to write to him about Abandon Spa. I doubt whether he is well enough at the moment to finish any of the stories that he had begun, but if he is—or as soon as he is—the work could do him no harm whatever."

"Your theory that the best work is done by the men who are uprooted is one which occurred to me when I studied the pre-Socratics, most of whom were refugees. The fact is that one can make up any number of theories, all equally plausible and none of them true."

"I think the trend towards religion is an outcome of the Russian Revolution and the fear of Communism and Nazism. The same thing happened in England after the French Revolution. People will not cease to be religious until there is more security in the world." He recollects an anecdote about his grandmother. "She knew the Miss Berrys, who were friends of Horace Walpole, and she said to me: 'They were old-fashioned. They used to swear a little'."

"I am particularly pleased that you appreciated my semantic-ethical rule...."

"I hope the revival of Stalinism will not interfere with these various plans."

Edith has a serious illness and is not able to travel to London.

"I meant to say that there are reasons for thinking ethical values not absolute—i.e., that this conclusion follows from other things which appear tolerably certain."

"I don't know how the rumour got about that I was going to India. I have never had any intention of going there or given anyone any reason to think that I had such an intention."

"I especially like your phrase about people being 'bitingly jocular'. It slightly reminds me of Sir Thomas More on the scaffold."

"I enclose nineteen maxims which I attribute to La Rochefoucauld."

"As for what I agree with and what I disagree with in the maxims [of La Rochefoucauld]—this would be a long story. I liked the form because it enables me to say, without qualification, things which I only believe with qualifications that would make them tedious."

BR is disappointed that she finds the maxims of La Rochefoucauld "not suitable for your illustrations". BR and Edith are coming to London in a few days.

"Thank you very much for the very pleasant edition of my History of the World. I particularly enjoyed your picture of Adam and Eve at their Elevenses, they look so different from their portraits by the old masters."

BR his pleased and amused that The Good Citizen's Alphabet has been published in America by the Philosophical Library.

Re publishing.

"... the press proved too much for us after we came out of gaol and we ran for North Wales. However, we expect to return to London in late October...."

This letter is in Edith Russell's hand but BR has signed it. It concerns Walt Ruhman and atomic war.

Allen and Unwin have given permission for a reprint of "The Theologian's Nightmare" with illustrations by Franciszka. BR will contribute towards the cost of publication.

"I have sent Miss Gray a draft letter to Khrushchev which I am quite willing to send to him if she approves."

BR is very busy with the International War Crimes Tribunal.

"It was lovely to see you last May at my celebration, and we wish it could happen again."

A rejection of Stefan Themerson's book, Professor Mmaa's Lecture.

Re The Good Citizen's Alphabet.

A certificate of posting is attached.

Schoenman puts a P.S. to this letter: "Dear S and F: This is my draft of a letter for Bertie which reflects our talk after receiving Stefan's letter. I get to the point where I forget who I am and who he is: we merge. Better that you have it as mine."

The name Ralph is printed in ink after the P.S.

Written in pencil across the top is "See Russell's letter 26 March 1952".

Re BR's 90th birthday.

"The doctors are still very pleased with Bertie's progress. He has had much less pain during these past two days ... and is very cheerful." "He is able to read a fair amount now, which is a great boon!"

BR has had to stay in hospital.

BR will be in London for television both before and after his birthday. His throat is still bad. He cannot eat in public because "conversation distracts his mind from the mechanics of swallowing...."

The day they returned from a speaking engagement in Birmingham "Bertie fell ill of shingles and then I fell ill of chicken pox (about thirty years later than anyone has ever had them. Most humiliating!) and for six weeks we have been unable to communicate with the outer world." BR "had excruciating pain for several weeks and had to be kept under heavy drugs to dull it. The pain has now expended itself, except for short and infrequent bouts, and he is very much better though still rather weak and tottery." "We take little toddles in the sun and read bad books and see no one and seek to preserve the total emptiness of our respective heads."

Edith would like them to come to Wales to celebrate BR's 95th birthday. "He seems in fine form, but tires easily, and I fear that any large and long party with speeches and formalities would be too much...."

Edith is delighted that they will be coming to Wales. "Since writing you I have had the second thought that the party might go off with less fuss if I cut out the tea part and concentrated on drinks and cake."

Re the Themersons visiting in Wales.

"The gramophone records of Reading History As It Is Never Written and Anecdotes are being transcribed. It would be marvellous if we could publish it as a book, perhaps (—if we can afford it)—with one small gramophone record added—?" "As to the children's stories, we still have copies of Zump, the Post Office of Pinky-Pong-Tong and Sir Theophilus Thwackum. There is a note in the margin mentioning 3 other stories: Maisie Maisie, the Coffin, and The Loving Couple but I don't think I have ever seen them."

"We both think that it would be splendid to have the Alphabet reprinted (by you, naturally), especially with the little gold History of the World at the end. Also, we should much like to have the History As It Is Never Written and the Anecodotes published as a book." "About the children's stories: I do wish very much that they could be printed, with appropriate illustrations. They have already entertained so many children so often that I should like them to be known to many more. The three stories that you say are mentioned in the margin are stories that Bertie's grandmother used to tell him and that, also, he has told to many children to their delight. He recorded them and they should be amongst the recordings that you have."

"Thank you very much for the lovely pile of the new edition."

"I am very glad to have the new edition of The Good Citizen's Alphabet and much touched by you having sent me the first copy."

"As regards the Russell anecdotes, it appears that the most important task is to uncover a significant theme and an interesting form in which to present the material."

Feinberg wants to republish both of BR's books of short stories together with The Good Citizen's Alphabet and the History of the World in Epitome.

The Unwins do not want Mrs. Themerson to illustrate The Collected Stories of Bertrand Russell. It would be too expensive.

"I have studied the transcript of the gramophone records ... there are a number of important problems to which BR should give his attention." The problems are listed under three headings: "Pieces Which Have Already Been Published", "General Queries", and "Possible Libel Problems". The list refers not to gramophone records but numbered tape recordings.

"The records are fascinating. I haven't found any new children's stories but some may still be hidden there...."

This letter is not signed; it is typed on the verso of a printed notice that Stefan and Franciszka have moved.

Themerson describes records in his possession. One of them is BR's address at the Warsaw Memorial meeting 9 April 1953.

"The tapes are not being transcribed, but copied, but I fear it is a long job."

"I find, to my horror, that I have sent you the only copy in Britain of the papers describing some of the tape recordings."

"I am enclosing a copy of a letter which I have received from Bertie's agents about your typescript of the gramophone records. Bertie was rather anxious not to have to read the whole typescript, and sent it to Continuum for them to have a look through it."

A photocopy of the letter is in this file, dated 28 July 1969.

"It was very kind of you to produce all the information about the recordings of the Warsaw Memorial meeting. I suspect that this meeting was, as stated, in 1953 and not 1955 as appears in the Autobiography, but I am checking this."

"Would it be possible for me to collect the records late in September."

BR has signed and mailed the letters that Rotblat prepared for him to sign. BR asks if it not unwise to continue to have Bullard's name on the letterhead.

A cheque is to be sent to "MANWEB". (The Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board.)

An acknowledgement is to be sent.

Something that is "O.K." is to be communicated to Burn.

BR is sending in 3 parcels multiple copies of 11 books autographed by him.

Since she thinks "this country should have deterrent weapons", it is not possible for BR to recommend her for work against nuclear armaments. She could help out Pugwash.

BR declines to write an article on Nehru's foreign policy. His time is completely booked in the near future.

BR has no leisure at present to read an article by Dr. Szerzepanski.

BR praises his The Logic of Defence and invites him to visit BR.