BR TO W.W. NORTON & COMPANY, INC. / WARDER NORTON, 27 APR. 1934
BRACERS 47090. ALS. Norton papers, Columbia U.
Proofread by K. Blackwell and A. Duncan

<letterhead>
The Hotel Portmeirion
Penrhyndeudraeth, North Wales1
April 27, 1934

Dear Warder

Thank you very much for your letter: I am extremely glad that you like the book.

I am returning herewith your “Editorial Notes”. Where I have put a tick, I have adopted your suggestion. Where I have put nothing, I am reserving the question for leisurely consideration.

I don’t think I can condense the Feuerbach business, which explains the difference between Marxian and ordinary materialism; but I can cut out most of the stuff about Lenin in the same chapter. The chapter on surplus value is difficult to cut, but I will, if you like, put a note at the beginning: “Those who are sure Marx was right, or sure he was wrong, or indifferent as to whether he was right or wrong, should omit this chapter.”

Biographical Notes. Metternich: I cut out the reference to little Jack Horner in the MS of the book, as it seemed cheap. Benthamites: slight errors in your typescript. Hamilton: I changed a phrase in the MS after sending it to you. In all other points, I like the Notes.

Sanger: He was one of my closest friends; he died about three years ago. We were in the same year at Trinity, we both did first mathematics and then moral science, and both got fellowships at the same time. He was 2nd wrangler while I was 7th. He specialized in economics, I in philosophy. He was a barrister, and is known in legal circles as the editor of Jarman on wills. He was at Winchester, the oldest of the public schools. I met him when we were both freshman, because the coach to whom we both went circulated some notes, and he came next to me in the alphabet. So I went to his rooms, and in the course of conversation looked at his books. I said “I see you have Draper’s Intellectual Development of Europe, which is a book I like very much” and he answered “You are the first person I have met who has ever heard of it.” So we became friends on the spot, and he proceeded to talk to me of Shaw, whom I had never heard of. In later life, he knew all languages — e.g. Magyar and Finnish — and almost everything else. He was moreover one of the very kindest people I have ever known. He used to spend Sunday afternoons with my children, and they were both very unhappy when he died.

I will give very serious consideration to what you say about cutting down the quotations. But it is difficult to suit both English and American readers, and I feel that the former have their rights. E.g. the long quotation from Peacock about Malthus has particularly pleased those English people who have read the book. And so long as we are asked to endure the dialect of Sinclair Lewis and Co., I don’t see why Americans shouldn’t endure English dialect. I think, however, that I can often paraphrase quotations, and I will do all I can in that direction.

I shall hand the MS over to Unwin during May. I have still to do two chapters and Introduction and Conclusion. I gather you will set it up from the English proofs, which I will correct and send on, to you. I assume that you will alter references from Englisha to American editions, as it would be difficult to do it on this side of the Atlantic.

Title: How about “Freedom versus Organization, 1814–1914”.

Thanks and best wishes.

Yours
Bertrand Russell.

P.S. Your criticisms are largely the same as those of Peter Spence who has been collaborating with me, and who is mainly responsible for some of the bits you pick out for approval, e.g. Metternich and the character of Drew. The copy you had was unrevised, and a good deal of improvement has been made since.

• 1

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

Textual Notes

• a

  from English inserted