19 June 1939 Typewritten in French; translation given below
The Stores, Wallington, Near Baldock, Herts, Angleterre
I am sending you chapters 7–10,1 and I shall send the others in a few days when I have corrected them. In these four chapters I have made notes on pages 120, 126, 128, 141, 164, 165, 168, 174, 207. There is not very much to alter anywhere, and I think the translation expresses the feeling of the original very well. I do hope that all your work will not be in vain. If we cannot find a publisher, I do not see why we should not publish some chapters in a magazine. I like the introduction by Georges Kopp very much,2 but here I shall be guided by the wishes of the publisher, if we can find one. If necessary I am quite prepared to write an introduction myself. I shall let Warburg know he must not ask too much. I am surprised he asked £40 for Freda Utley’s book3 – it is probably because the book was quite successful in England.
Until the other day I didn’t know you did not have a copy oí Homage to Catalonia. A year ago I asked Warburg to send you one and he promised he would, but he probably forgot. The other day I sent you a proof copy, but I shall send you a proper copy of the book as soon as I can get one. Anyway there is no textual difference between the book and the manuscript. The name of Monte Oscuro could be changed to Monte Trazo4 – I was definitely mistaken.
My latest book5 came out a week ago. I don’t yet know how it will be received. You will have noticed that I am still with Gollancz, that Stalinist publisher!
1. Chapters from Homage to Catalonia as originally published; these are chapters 6 to 9 and Appendix I, as rearranged in line with Orwell’s wishes in the Complete Works edition. Yvonne Davet’s translation was not published until 1955, five years after Orwell’s death. See Note on the Text, above [VI/251-3].
2. George Kopp evidently wrote an introduction, because Orwell told Moore, 15 April 1947 (see 3216), that it had been sent to the publisher (Gallimard). By 1947 Orwell thought it ‘was not a very suitable one and in any case would have no point now’. Kopp’s introduction has not been traced.
3. Freda Ut le y s Japan s Gamble in China (June 1938).
4. This change was made in CW[VI/38], and see p. 58.
5. Coming Up for Air.