BR TO W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. / WARDER NORTON, 22 DEC. 1936
BRACERS 47184. ALS. Norton papers, Columbia U.
Proofread by K. Blackwell and A. Duncan

<letterhead>
Telegraph House
Harting, Petersfield.1
Dec. 22, 1936.

Dear Warder

Thank you very much for your cheering letter of Dec. 4. Let us hope you are right. I am very glad we shall see you in April.

As for the book about my parents: it has been decided, largely on the advice of the Hogarth Press, to call it in England:

THE AMBERLEY PAPERS
The Letters and Diaries of
Lord and Lady Amberley
By
Bertrand and Patricia Russell.

You could substitute, for the 3rd line,

Bertrand Russell’s parents.

and of course you can make the connection with me clear on the paper cover.

“Bertrand and Patricia Russell” must appear so, not with a “with” instead of “and”. My wife has done more of the work than I have, and I could not consent to her name being in any degree subordinated to mine.

I have been re-reading your letter of May 5, and I am afraid you will be annoyed about the title. But, in fact, after the first 2 chapters, the work is almost all editing of letters and journals; its interest is historical. I realize that this may make it not very saleable in America, but it would not be fair to the public to give a false impression — It is a piece of serious historical work, as well as a very interesting story; it is in the same class as Greville’s Diary or The Education of Henry Adams. But it should not be viewed as a prelude to my autobiography — which, in the long run, would do it more harm than good.

Yours sincerely
Bertrand Russell.

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