BR TO W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. / WARDER NORTON, 13 MAY 1929
BRACERS 46979. TLS. Norton papers, Columbia U.
Proofread by A. Duncan

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Beacon Hill School
Harting,
Petersfield,1
13th May 1929

Dear Norton,

Many thanks for your letter of May 3rd received this morning. I note with interest all that you say about Mysticism and Logic. With regard to what Longmans have sold in America, I note that I received from them last November the sum of £14.18.4 as royalties on sales throughout the world. I think one may assume that about £10 of this was earned by American sales, and if so, their claim of 200 copies a year in America cannot be very excessive. If I can find the statement they sent with the cheque, I will send it to you, but at the moment I do not know where I have put it. I can’t help thinking that they are rooking you outrageously in asking 1,000 for their rights in America. However, if you are willing to pay that sum, I quite understand from the data in your letter that I stand to gain, though I cannot but feel doubtful whether you do. Your suggestions are all entirely agreeable to me, and I will write the new preface that you suggest. I shall be able to do it in July, as the book that I am at present writing for Liveright is to be finished in June. I do not quite understand whether Longmans propose to pay me any part of the 1,000 that you are paying them, but it seems to me quite clear that they ought to do so since (looking at the thing for the moment from their point of view) I am sacrificing all the royalties that I have been receiving. Or perhaps they propose to pay me a percentage of the 10% royalty that they receive from you in subsequent years. This question, of course, does not concern the contract between you and them, but I should be glad to know from you when you think it would be suitable for me to write to them on this subject. I should, of course, do so only when your contract with them is completed.

I am utterly amazed to learn that you have sold 4,000 copies of Our Knowledge of the External World. It hardly sells at all in this country, and it is becoming more and more clear to me that America has got to become my spiritual home.

We are greatly looking forward to seeing you and Mrs. Norton in July.

Yours sincerely,
Bertrand Russell

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