Letter from S. S. Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (23/02/1923)

  • Image of handwritten letter from S. S. Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (23/02/1923) page1 of 1

 

[[1]]

 

[[MS 2750/595/2]]

 

5 Acacia Rd
St. John's Wood, N.W.8
Tel. 23.

 

Doporon*1 Leonar[?]d.

 

I have your letter with te regard to t[h]e*2 Goldenweiser*3 book. Since you introduce new principles in our dealings, you must allow me to propose certain modifications.

 

If you hesitate to publish the book, I think it is best not to undertake it at all.

 

If however you, The Hogarth Press, agree to publish t[h]e book, I cannot accept the principle that you "have the right to make the selection of what is to be included". The right must belong to the translators - on their mutual agreement what to include. Not that I doubt Virginia's*4 taste, not a bit of it. I simply can't put myself in a position of being dictated in such matters. Especially when I dont [sic] claim any right for myself in this respect; I do not claim that everything I translate should be included. only [sic] I must insist that the selection of what is to be included should be done by the translators, by mutual agreement.

 

As to the business side I should also propose that the Hogarth Press pays to the translators a royalty on each copy sold, instead of 25% of the net profits of the English edition. As to the right of t[h]e Hogarth Press to sell the American rights on a commission of 10% to the Press, I can agree to such a commission; but t[h]e translators must have the freedom to choose whether they commission t[h]e Hogarth Press to act on their behalf, or they act personally in disposing the American rights. Should however t[h]e Hogarth Press consider it its own privilege to dispose of the American rights, I, as one of the translators, shall be entitled to payment - out of the 10% comission [sic] - for all expenses I have in securing the Russian books -

 

I must add that there will be no delay on my part in supplying you with the material. I can even bind myself to provide all the material within a fortnight (delivering a great part of same in a few days).

 

Your | SSK. [signature]

 

 

 

 

* Endnotes

 

1. Transliteration of the Russian 'дорогой' meaning 'dear'.

 

2. Here and elsewhere, 'the' is written strangely as though shortened to 'te'.

 

3. This is Koteliansky's transliteration of the name. Other versions such as Goldenveiser or Goldenweizer also exist.

 

4. Virginia Woolf

Rights Statement:

Reproduced with permission from the copyright holder, courtesy of Penguin Random House UK Archive and Library owner of the Hogarth Press collection at the University of Reading Special Collections.

This item has not been made available with a CC BY-NC-ND licence

Source: MS 2750/595/2

Image Rights Holder: © Estate of Samuel Solomonovich Koteliansky

Letter from S. S. Koteliansky to Leonard Woolf (23/02/1923)

Library:

University of Reading, Special Collections

S. S. Koteliansky responds to Leonard Woolf's terms in regards to translation work, he also discusses the subject of American rights.

Handwritten letter signed by Koteliansky