Letter to the Committee of the Library of Classics of Philosophy written 12.08.1952

Committee of the Library of Classics of Philosophy          c            c          Krakow, 8/12/1952
at the Polish Scientific Publishers PWN
Department: German Philosophy
    c      L 39/52

To The Editorial Committee of the Library of Classics of Philosophy
    c            in WARSAW, Foksal St. 17.

    c     In reference to my letter sent this morning /which I wrote after a completely sleepless night spent standing up in a train corridor/ I kindly report that upon closer examination it turned out that the Office of the Editorial Committee has sent me my corrected copy of the translation of “Groundwork of the Metaphysics”. My mistake resulted from the fact that this copy included further corrections of an “editor”. This makes more difficult to keep track of. Please, do not send any other copies on white paper, just make sure that all copies contain all the same corrections that will eventually be included.
    c     I have already started working on reviewing the validity of the proposed corrections. However, as I have stated in my previous letter, as well as to the envoy from the Krakow branch of Polish Scientific Publishers PWN, I will not be able to complete this check before 18th of the present month. I will submit the part I am able to finish on the 17th to the local branch of P.W.N., who promised to deliver it to Warsaw as soon as possible /if the Editorial Committee does not approve of this procedure, please contact me as soon as possible/. I will deliver the rest of the revised text as soon as possible.
    c     Based on the 6 initial pages, the vast majority of the proposed revisions are either a completely unnecessary change of the already approved text /it does not improve it substantively or stylistically/, or is a deviation from the German text, deteriorating the translation. So far, I have only detected a certain infidelity in /Wartenberg’s/ translation in one place, but my correction did not follow the spirit of changes proposed by the editor. I accepted the suggested corrections in a few places, but they do not have any significant substantive, stylistic or literary significance.
    c     I have not yet dealt with the issue of the index to the “Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals”. Based on the talks conducted in Warsaw on July 1, I did not suppose that Wartenberg’s translation would go to into print so quickly. I will consider how to settle this matter in the next few days. I suppose that the index does not have to be submitted for printing at the same time, especially since it is necessary to know the page numbers for its final preparation, so it can be prepared only after the typesetting is finished.
    c     Finally, I would like to ask if the matter of obtaining consent from prof. Wartenberg’s family for the new edition of the translation has already been settled. During my stay at the seaside I learned that late prof. Wartenberg’s son lives in Gdansk and that until not long ago he had worked in the Gdańsk housing office. But I could not get his address. Perhaps, however, this information will help the Editorial Committee contact Mr. Wartenberg.

Best Regards

R.I.