Dear Mr Blaine,
Thank you for your input. I am Jocob Christiansen's friend and co-owner
of Integral Tradition Publishing (www.integraltradition.com). You can read
more about the aims and goals of our project here:
http://www.integraltradition.com/catalog/about.php
As you can see from the description on our page our purpose is the same
as yours. Where we differ is in the 'means'. Whilst I take your ideas
'onboard' I don't think you have fully understood Jacob's point. Let me make
it a bit clearer to you:
To start ITP Jacob and I had to put a lot of our own money into the
project. ITP then had to spend much of this money (more than many people
earn in month) on translating Metaphysics of War (our current project),
getting it proof-read, getting it printed and so on.
I know from Mr Cariou that the same holds true of Thompkins & Cariou,
and imagine it does with all other publishers also.
If our book were available for free on-line, we would lose the money we
put into publishing it. The reason is that if the book is online for free
very few people would buy it from us. Not only would we suffer a loss - we
would not have any funds left to translate, proof-read, format, print (etc)
any other books by Evola.
So, as you can see, it's not a question of 'publishers making a profit'.
It's a question of publishers not making a huge loss. In terms of idealism I
should say that we have not made anything from the time and effort we have
put into the project (nor, I know for a fact, Mr Cariou).
As for your remarks about us living in a world of bookkeepers, I agree.
However, that IS the world we are living in. If someone would translate,
print, proof-read etc books for free we would be happy for them to be
available online for free. However, that is not the case.
Idealism is not a question of living as if we lived in an ideal world.
It's a question of making the best out of a bad deal. For ITP this means,
amongst other things, that we sell rare items and collectables at much below
the market price. We still have to charge for them - we have to pay our
bills. But at least (and this is a matter of principle for us) we don't
'jew' people. This is our idealism. I'll leave it for you to decide which
kind of idealism is more viable.
Sincerely,
Patrick Boch,
ITP.