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[[MS 2750/7/21]]

25 September, 1924

Dear Miss Harrison,

I am so sorry that you should be annoyed by the non-appearance of proofs. It was because there is nearly always this delay that I was so insistent upon the necessity of being ready at once with the MS [Manuscript]. I had to give the printer a date on which I wanted the book completed and to be safe one must give him at least six weeks from receiving the completed copy. He will keep to my date, but one has to give him a good deal of latitude with a small book like this, and I know from experience of printers that two months is by no means excessive. A well organised big printing establishment cannot take a man off one job, put him on to another, and then return to the first, especially where a short book is concerned. It has to wait its turn and be put through all in one piece, and it is not possible to calculate within a week when its turn will come. I hope to publish AVVAKUM ear at the end of October, and if we are prompt with the proofs I think there will be no difficulty in this. The printer, who has never yet failed me, will take no time once he atarts <starts> the job.

Yours sincerely