BR TO W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. / WARDER NORTON, 18 AUG. 1937
BRACERS 47207. ALS. Norton papers, Columbia U. SLBR 2: #429
Edited by N. Griffin. Proofread by K. Blackwell and A. Duncan

<letterhead>
Telegraph House
Harting, Petersfield.1
August 18, 1937

Dear Warder

Thank you for the nice letter and for the nice contract. We both immensely enjoyed the visit from you and Polly.2

The contract you sent for the History of Philosophy3 is quite satisfactory, and I have signed it. There are, however, two points connected with alimony:

(1) I should like the cheque due on signing the contract to be delayed till the end of October [you will not find this onerous!];

(2) I should be very grateful it you could do what Allen and Unwin have done at my request, and state in the contract that, in view of her help with the work, one third of all sums due under the contract shall be paid to my wife Patricia Helen Russell.4

I do not want to insist on either of these points if you have any objection.

“The Science of Power” is a subject I have had in mind for some time, but it has been brought to a head by the fact that I am to lecture on it this autumn at the London School of Economics.5

After Christmas, I am lecturing at Oxford on “Language and Fact”, and I propose, in due course, to write a book of technical philosophy on this subject.6

I cannot be sure of finishing “The Science of Power” in May, as the Oxford lectures will take up my time till March; but I will do my best. I enclose a preliminary abstract of the book; it aims at creating a wider science of which economics is a falsely isolated part.

It is encouraging to be again getting advances on books, and makes me hope my day is not done. Unwin is very optimistic as regards English publication.

I entirely reciprocate what you say about trusting each other.7

Yours sincerely
Bertrand Russell.

P.S. I see that I must say nothing obscene. I therefore solemnly undertake that in the book on Power I will not tell how, after Mahomet’s death, his son-in-law, who was laying him out, exclaimed: “O propheta, certe poenis tuus coelum versus erectus est!”8 But perhaps when you sell the movie rights you will see that this point is not overlooked.

• 1

  [document] Proofread against a microfilm printout of the original.

• 2

  We both immensely enjoyed the visit from you and Polly. Norton and his wife had spent a weekend at Telegraph House during their recent visit to England.

• 3

  The contract you sent for the History of Philosophy This eventually became History of Western Philosophy (1945).

• 4

  state in the contract … paid to my wife Patricia Helen Russell Dora, of course, would be entitled to a share of all BR’s earnings, but not Peter’s.

• 5

  “The Science of Power” … at the London School of Economics. The lectures were the basis of his book Power: A New Social Analysis (1938). Norton had learnt from Unwin that BR intended to write on the topic.

• 6

  I am lecturing at Oxford … write a book of technical philosophy on this subjectAn Inquiry into Meaning and Truth (1940).

• 7

  I entirely reciprocate what you say about trusting each other. Norton had said that he rarely contracted for books about which he knew as little as he did about “The Science of Power”, but he felt he and BR were able to trust each other.

• 8

  “O propheta … est!” “O prophet, undoubtedly your penis, now that it is erect, is pointed to heaven.” It is not known where BR got this story.