March 6th Wednesday

Wrote a long letter to A.B. [Arthur Barker] explaining why his suggestion was inappropriate & offensive, and to the German[RG] making it plain that since his revising of the original all-in contract, he could not expect any more work from me. 1 He had not lost and would not have lost if he had kept the contract, which was not however renewable.
Went over Remembering War, To Walk on Hills, Advice to Story-tellers, To Bring the Dead to Life and The Goblet with Laura. 2 The first two & the last had already been seen by her and recast according to her suggestions. She now passed them all with only two emendations. Took them to Karl to type. He was in a very funny, ungracious mood a relic of last night when he got angry when I joked about his pommelling the Son Beltran boy, and anger with himself for having lost a page of Emmie. Fourth and fifth drafts of The Mirror. Betty goes back tomorrow.

Editorial Notes

1Graves broke with Arthur Barker over his refusal to publish The Critical Vulgate, now renamed Epilogue; for which R.G. had to pay a considerable sum to Constable to publish under joint Seizen Constable imprint: hence his resentment. See RPG p.234, eds.
2See RP Graves 224-26. eds.

Hands Referenced

    • Annotation: ink correction
    • Character: regular
    • Ink: black

Places Mentioned

  • Son Beltran

    Llucalcari, Majorca, Sp
    Farm-house near Llucalcari. WG

People Mentioned

  • Laura

    Riding, Laura
    (1901-91) American poet. Laura Riding (née Reichenthal; then Laura Gottschalk).

  • Karl/Carl

    Goldschmidt, Karl
    Karl Goldschmidt, later Kenneth Gay: Graphic artist, friend and secretary of Robert Graves and Laura Riding since 1934. R. G. spells both as Carl and Karl.

  • McCormacks

    McCormack, Walter & Violet
    Tenants of Ca'n Torrent. Had two daughters: Jennifer, a dancer, & Betty. Continued their friendship with Robert and Laura in England. eds.

  • A.B.

    Arthurby

    Barker, Arthur
    Owner and director of Arthur Barker Ltd., the English publisher of I, Claudius and Claudius the God. Arthurby was L.R.'s nickname for him.

Organizations Mentioned

  • Constable & Co., Ltd.

    Constable
    Constable Publishers. Arranged with them to print and distribute Seizin Press Epilogue and books. WG

  • Seizin Press

    Founded when Robert Graves and Laura Riding began their partnership in London. R.G. and L.R. continued to operate their own press in Deyá, but stopped printing in 1935. Seizin Press published a number of literary works in conjunction with Constable in London, including the Epilogue series, and other works by Laura Riding and their literary associates. eds

Bibliography

    • Title: Advice to Storytellers [a.k.a. Devil's Advice to Storytellers]
    • Title: Collected Poems [1938]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London
    • Publisher: Cassell
    • Idno: A48
    • Date: 1938
    • Title: Women as People [Emmie was a character in this short story, according to Friedmann 175].
    • Title: "Women as People," The Word "Woman" and Other Related Writings
    • Author: Riding, Laura
    • Title: The Mirror [poem] ["destroyed" 21 Mar. 1935: diary, eds.]
    • Author: Robert Graves
    • Date: 1935
    • Title: Critical Vulgate [renamed, and published as Epilogue]
    • Editor: Laura Riding/ Robert Graves
    • Title: Epilogue I: A Critical Summary
    • Editor: Riding. Laura/ Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: Deyá & London
    • Publisher: Seizin & Constable
    • Idno: B22
    • Date: 1935
    • Title: Remembering War [poem]: published as: Recalling War
    • Title: Collected Poems [1938]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London
    • Publisher: Cassell
    • Idno: A48
    • Date: 1938
    • Title: To Walk on Hills [poem]
    • Title: Collected Poems [1938]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London
    • Publisher: Cassell
    • Idno: A48
    • Date: 1938
    • Title: To Bring the Dead to Life
    • Title: Collected Poems [1938]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London
    • Publisher: Cassell
    • Idno: A48
    • Date: 1938
    • Title: Goblet, The [poem]
    • Title: Collected Poems [1938]
    • Author: Graves, Robert
    • PubPlace: London
    • Publisher: Cassell
    • Idno: A48
    • Date: 1938