Letter from Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (29/12/1922)

  • Image of handwritten Letter from Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (29/12/1922) page 1 of 2
  • Image of handwritten Letter from Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (29/12/1922) page 2 of 2

[[1]]

 

[[MS 2750/38/3]]

 

5 Acacia R[oa]d 
St. John's Wood

 

Dec. 29. 1922

 

Doporior*1 Leonard*2

 

with regard to the 50 dollars for the Bunin book from Seltzer may I suggest that you send me now: either all the 50 dollars as my share (of the 100 dollars due); or 25 dollars now for me, and 25 for you. Concerning the remaining 50 dollars which are due on January, would not it be best if you wrote to Mountsier to remit 25 dollars to[sic] D.H.Lawrence, as his share, and to send you the remaining 25 dollars.

 

As regards Gorki's Reminiscences of Andreyev, - since the book turned out a complete failure by now, - and as I have obligations to Gorki,- I should like to sell it outright and would be willing to accept the sum of £75 for the English serial and book rights. If this is not acceptable I am afraid I must ask you to send the M[anuscript]S back. I'll make one more effort to dispose of it here, and if I fail, I shall have to return Gorki his permission to me to translate it, as well as to free the Russian publisher of the exclusive right he gave me to translate and publish the book here and in America.

 

I also want to ask you to supply me with an account for each of the books translated by us; and if there is any money due to me, as my share, on each book separately

 

 

[[2]]

 

I should be very glad if you could let me have it. I dont[sic] think it makes a great difference to you whether you pay me now what is due as my share on each published book, whi the expensenses [sic] of production etc of which have now been covered by the sales. But to me it is extremely important to have money now, as I need it very much. I take it that there must be some money due for Gorki's Rem[iniscences][?] of Tolstoi, for instance.

 

I wonder if you heard anything definite from America with regard to the Tolstoi - <Siryukov>[?] book?

 

Have you decided anything with regard to the *3 Plan of the possessed I hope you remember what I said that I could let you have one or two more articles on Dostoevsky - to form one book together with the Plan, in case you find the Plan too short for a book. -

 

Yours | S.S.Koteliansky [signature]

 

Endnote

 

*1  Russian for Dear

*2 Leonard Woolf

*3 Assumed to be the book Plan of the Life of the Great Sinner

Rights Statement:

Reproduced with permission from the estate of the author, courtesy of Penguin Random House UK archive and library. This item is not made available through a CC BY-NC-ND licence.

Source: MS 2750/38/3

Image Rights Holder: © Estate of Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky

Letter from Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (29/12/1922)

Library:

University of Reading, Special Collections

Koteliansky writes about an advance received from Seltzer, he suggests how it is to be divided amongst himself and Woolf, also mentioning a future payment and how much should be sent to D. H. Lawrence. Koteliansky also writes in relation to Gorki's Reminiscences of Audreyev which he calls a failure asking to either sell, or for the return of the manuscript. He continues to discuss payment for his work, enquiring about his other titles, and asking if Woolf knows more. He offers further articles on Dostoevsky to add to a work he refers to as 'The Plan' in the case it is presently too short to create a book.

 

Manuscript letter signed by Koteliansky