4 OCTOBER 1963, Page 10

The Hatchet Men It will be some time before the

indignation dies that is felt in, and indeed outside, literary circles at the manner in which Harcourt Brace, the New York publishers, pole-axed their British subsidiary, Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd., little more than a year after acquiring control of the firm. The inside story, not a pretty one, cannot yet be told; but as a Hart-Davis author whose last book has just been published by Harcourt Brace in the United States I can put on record my own ex- perience of their methods. The contract was signed last February; the book came out, I believe, in August. The contract provided for an advance on royalties to be paid in two halves, one on signature of the contract, the other on publication; both payments were a month late in coming to hand. The contract also required the publishers to send me ten complimentary copies; so far I have received one—a replica of the impeccably produced Hart-Davis edition. I have never had a letter or any other communi- cation from Harcourt Brace, and the impression left by my dealings (if such they can be called) with this firm is thus one of chill inefficiency.