Item 16 - Letter from Kenneth Sisam to R. C. Trevelyan

The Clarendon Press, Oxford. - Thanks Trevelyan for his letter of 27 May: sorry to have kept him waiting so long regarding [his translation of] Montaigne. The 'stoppage of coal and fuel... reversed the tendency to increase book production', and there was 'no prospect' of improvement. Was therefore unfair to a project like Trevelyan's to 'try and decide about it in these bleak months'. Montaigne falls more within the remit of Oxford University Press's than that of the Delegates [of the Clarendon Press] which is these days largely restricted to academic work, and the London and American houses have 'rather tied themselves' to [the translation by Emil Trechmann]. But if Trevelyan sends the rest of the manuscript so they can get the 'effect of the selection', promises to give it consideration and a 'reasonably quick answer'; wishes they could judge manuscripts 'on their merits and not under the rule of necessity'.