Letter to the editor

 

“More Distortions”

THE David Irving trial was not only about Holocaust denial and the nature of historical research, but also about fudging the truth.

It also examined in detail the vexed question of how the subtle abuse of documents can create distortion and how disingenuous editing can perpetrate lies. Irving was shown to have done both.

How surprising then was Richard Evans’s attack on publishers — “The real cost of free speech” (Times Higher Education Supplement, June 21). He selectively quotes from a rejection letter that he misattributes to me.

Sometimes such mistakes distort meanings. Evans says the letter Profile Books sent his agent suggested we turned his book down because of the legal threat. Our reason was commercial, to quote: “Time has past (sic), there’s not much chance of export, we wd (sic) have to publish as a paperback original, some copies have come in via Amazon.”

How sad to see the gamekeeper has become a poacher.

Andrew Franklin
Managing director
Profile Books

 

Footnote: The US edition of Lying about Hitler has already been remaindered. It is available from Hamilton Books, the primary/largest book remainder service in the US, for $7.00. Its sales were evidently abysmal. I am proud to say my books have never been remaindered.– David Irving

 

 Richard Evans puts his side of the story, “The Real cost of Free Speech”, in The Times Higher Educational Supplement

 Private Eye: The Führer, The Jackal, The Professor and his Publishers

 Radical’s Diary

 Sunday Telegraph: Irving’s home is repossessed as libel debts mount

 Michael Burleigh writes: It is time for the David Irving libel case to be consigned to history