Item 17 - Letter from Kenneth Sisam to R. C. Trevelyan

The Clarendon Press, Oxford. - Trevelyan will think he has treated the question about Montaigne with 'scandalous negligence'; hopes he can forgive him, as he has had 'very heavy pressure of administrative work for some time'. The Press liked Trevelyan's translation and 'personal selection', but such a book would be more in the line of the London and New York houses who 'know about the market for books'. They have already published Trechmann's complete translation; Sisam thinks Trevelyan has 'the advantage of him at many points', but still his version is in print, set up when printing was at 'half its present price'. The London and New York houses did not think they could sell Trevelyan's selection at a price rather more than the complete Trechmann. Sisam waited for a while, hoping that 'conditions might improve', but unfortunately in the publishing world everything is 'getting always scarcer and dearer'. Hopes that Trevelyan will not think the delay in giving this 'disappointing answer' is due to a lack of interest or appreciation for his translation.