Bookend
In a recent letter circulated to its members, the Booksellers Association pointed out that it was not within its province to make recommendations concerning particular books. But it appears that its director, G. R. Davies, has not been averse to having pressure put on him to do exactly this, because the letter goes on to say that several booksellers have written in protest to their MPs about a forthcoming Pelican in the Latin American Library series, Carlos Marighela's For the Liberation of Brazil. One chapter in this apparently reprints ' A Handbook of Urban Guerrilla Warfare' with full instructions on bank-raiding, obstructing forces of law and order, shooting and " other insurrectionary activity."
French lesson
Clearly a book that can't be put on sale to the general public, you might think. But Peter Stockham of Dillons, one of the booksellers who originally brought the matter to the attention of the circumspect Mr Davies, was faintly disquieted to discover that Dillons was already stocking this inflammatory, classifiable material in the shape of a pamphlet put out by the Institute of Strategic Studies. He should have been warned by what happened to Marighela's book in France, Brought out by Editions du Seuil it was banned by the French government. Twenty-three French publishers immediately got together and brought out For the Liberation of Brazil under a joint imprint. Nothing more was heard from the French government.
Dylan's dibs
Gabriel Pearson, in a piece on Dylan Thomas in this issue, suggests that it's about time D.T. got the intellectual recognition he (not it) deserves. Quite true, but the trustees of his literary estate have the best of reasons for being satisfied already.
Royalties from the various volumes of poetry and prose have been mounting steadily over the last eighteen years, and now amount to something like £20,000 a year. This tidy sum is divided between the widow, Caitlin, and their children (equally, to widow Caitlin's annoyance) and doesn't seem likely to diminish over the years. Not every part of the Dylan Thomas heritage is as profitable, though. A couple of years ago an attempt was made to auction off the famous Boat House at Laugharne, scene of much bardic inspiration, which was rapidly falling into the sea. It failed to make widow Caitlin's reserve of £8,000 and was withdrawn at £3,500, much to the delight of the woman president of the Dutch Dylan Thomas Society who had stormed at the profanity of the whole occasion.
The Boat House itself is still falling into the sea, unoccupied and becoming unoccupiable. Dylan's mother, old Mrs Thomas, collected teapots. Even these have gone.
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