Viewing page 8 of 102

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

May 11, 1953

Dear Albert:

Let me say to you and your charming wife how exceedingly sorry I am to have been unable to accompany Ethylene to your cocktail party. I was so much looking forward to seeing you again and was truly distressed that last minute demands prevented my calling. I do hope, however, that ere long I shall have an opportunity of seeing you both again.

Meanwhile, I would like to recall to you the book on Gericault by Dr. Klaus Berger of the University of Kansas, Lawrence, which appeared a short while ago, published in German by a Vienese firm. The author implied that the reason for its having been published abroad is that he could not afford to bring it out in this country.

The difficulties of publishing art books in the United States will be no revelation to you. However, if I am particularly mentioning this book - and the importance in my opinion of an American edition - it is due to the fact that Dr. Berger's is the only corpus on the genius Gericault since the book published by Clement in 1879. Until now this was the book to which we all must refer and, perforce, it does not include the quantity of material which has been discovered meantime. Furthermore art criticism has developed considerably since then and our approach to certain problems is in keeping with this evolution.

The importance of Gericault in the development of the Romantic movement needs no pointing out and the absence of an American edition (you might be interested to know that a French one is now in process) is the more regrettable since just now there is so much interest in the Romanticists, one of the last exhibitions having been held this season in the Hartford Museum. The lack of up to date documentation is a lacuna which must be deeply felt by colleges and art schools.

Having had the curiosity of inquiring from Dr. Berger as to how matters stood regarding an American edition, he just wrote me the following:

"The Vienna publisher is willing to manufacture such an edition at cost, and low cost it is with the cheaper Austrian labor. He quotes 83 cents for each copy of all the illustrations or something in the neighborhood of $1.65 for a complete copy, including printed text, illustrations, cloth binding and jacket. The English text would have to be sent to him and the freight from Vienna to New York would have to be added, but provided that such a book could be sold here for $7.00 or $7.50....."

You will realize, of course, that if I am writing you in this vein, it is simply in view of my interest in art matters both from the educational angle and from my special admiration for the works of Gericault. Thus I do hope you will be able to help correct this situation.

With best regards,

Sincerely yours,

Germain Seligman

Albert Christ-Jamer, esq.
33 Perry Street
New York, New York