THE SERIES PUBLISHERS, lEC. 
Exclusive Publishers and Distributors of 
TEE SMITHSOHIM SERIES 99 University Place 
New York 3i H. Y. 
Alfred Monett, President 
Robert A. Hogan, Jr., freasurer 
Joseph M. McAndrews, Secretary 
March 3, I 952 
J. E. Graf 
Acting Secretary 
Smithsonian Institution 
Washington 25, D. C. 
Dear Mr. (hraf: 
I have your letter of February 28th and regret exceedingly that you have been 
annoyed with a letter of eoB^laint from a man who claims that he did not order the 
Panorama of Science." He is very much mistaken about this as well as about his 
reference to an experience he had with us on a previous occasion. 
^I am enclosing the order that we received from Mr. E. Stanley Field for the 
the "Panorama of Science." fhe volme was shipped to him last September. Had he 
decided not to keep it and returned it to us, we would not have compelled him to 
pay for it. ¥e had s<OTe rettims, and other than one letter written to them, the 
suhscrlbers were not pressed to make payment. ¥e did not get tou^ with Mr, Field 
until he coupletely ignored five or six statements and notices mailed to Mm over 
a period of four aM a half months. The toughest accounts that we have to handle 
are those where we get notMng but silence. There were exactly I 86 from whom we 
received no response to our statements and notices out of a total of 
approxln»tely 3?2CX) shipments. Really not a bad percentage, but they presented a 
probl«a. With a total amount owing to us of over $1,000, it was a question of 
how to proceed. ¥e certainly didn’t feel like giving vnp when there was over 
$1,000 involved without one final effort. Well, that notice broiight in payments 
from about 50 subscribers, M^d at least half of them apologized for having 
us wait so long for payment* Kie accounts of tbsse who didn’t respond, and Mr. 
E. Stanley Field’s was one of them, were turned over to an attorney for 
collection. 
The hook was not offered as a part of The Smithsonian Series and nothing was 
said in our announcement to give that Impression. ¥e have sold a good many copies 
to people other than Saithsonlan subscribers. In fact, we anticipate that the 
greatest number of sales, far, will come from those who do not own the 
Smithsonian Series. 
Incidentally, you said in your letter to Mr. Field that the Institution has 
no interest whatsoever in this book. Well, apparently you were not informed that 
we are obliged to pay the Institution a royalty of 5?^ on anything that we sell 
under the name of The Series Publishers, The Institution will be receiving a sub¬ 
stantial amount from the sale of the first edition of the Panorama of Science. 
Saying that we are the exclusive publishers and distributors of The 
Smithsonian Series is a statement of fact and it appears on practically every 
