Route 1
Westport, Connecticut
Dear Professor Pfeiffer:May I ask your opinion? Finally, after years of delay, “Ages in Chaos” has the prospect of being published in 1951. The publisher, Doubleday, signed a contract with me. They wish, however, to print the book in two parts, with an interval of a few months. You will remember that the argument of the book goes from chapter to chapter, and there is only one thesis in the book. I would like to know your opinion whether the publication of the book, which will be about 775 pages in print, should be divided in time. The reason Doubleday gave for this is that for the full volume they would have to charge between $6.00 and $7.50, which is a high price.On this occasion may I also ask you whether you would be opposed to Doubleday’s using some quotations from your letter of July 28, in which you wrote a few kind sentences about the published book “Worlds in Collision.” I wrote you on July 31 that I intended to give a copy of your letter to Doubleday so that they should be able to use it to go with sentences from other scientists and scholars for their publicity work.“Worlds in Collision” was printed in England on September 4, and there was a lively discussion in the press, including also a review by the Astronomer Royal in the Spectator, which I answered in a later issue (October 27).Translations are now in the process of being made in various countries; in Italy Garzanti will be my publisher, in France Stock, and in Japan Hosei University Press. I am at present working on a volume in which I will submit the geological material evidencing the catastrophes described on the basis of historical material in “Worlds in Collision.”
With cordial regards,
Sincerely yours,
Immanuel Velikovsky
IV: mf