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March 1, 78

Dear Marx:

Your recent letters of January 22 and 29 have not diminished our apprehension about the way you took it upon yourself to sign a contract no in accord with Velikovsky’s wishes, before the terms of the contract were accepted by him and without his written authorization to sign.

Our lawyer says that it was illegal and that the whole contract is voidable. He says that you had no legal authority to sign the contract in Velikovsky’s name and he cannot understand how the publisher was satisfied with your representations.

Remember your letter of October 20, 77 to Velikovsky? “Umschau in due course will wish to have proper signatures to the contract you would have to empower me accordingly.”—which means that you were well aware of the fact that you had no written authority then, and you do not have it now.

How could you then write on Jan. 22, 78 “I am mystified by the suggestion that I had not been empowered to sign with Umschau...” From this remark and several others in your recent letters (Jan. 22 and 29) we see that you continuously try to explain away every point of disagreement and never even once admit that you are at fault.

You make it also clear in your Jan. 29 letter that you intend to repeat your actions; that you would again “sign a deal that mirrors the Umschau contract,” that you would listen to what you decide are “reasoned” arguments, and that you would consider “no news, good news.”

Also your remark of an intended full power of attorney is baseless.

You must understand that we cannot work with you together under such conditions. Therefore we demand that you not negotiate with other publishers for any of Velikovsky’s books.

As for personal and scientific matters for the future, Velikovsky decided already last summer to keep everything within our own family.

And he definitely does not want an institute of any kind.

We all admire your remarkable charts and appreciate your talent, effort and time you put into this work. Hand you translated the chart, which my husband had considered to include in the Ramses II volume, this would have been a fine contribution. Maybe there will be another occasion.

Please read this letter with care and understanding and accept our decisions gracefully.

With best regards

Elisheva Velikovsky


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