Segeln

The article of which part is reproduced below was. penned by Bernard Levin
for the. Features section of the Times on 21 September 1991. To my mind, it
described the situation at the time and. in particular a recent meeting with
a friend,. during which I for the first time admitted to someone other than
my GP that I had been subjected to a conspiracy of harassment over. the
previous year. and a half.

>There is a madman running loose about. London, called David Campbell; I have
>no reason to believe that he is violent, but he should certainly. be
>approached. with caution. You may know him by the curious glitter in his
>eyes and a persistent trembling of his. hands; if that does not suffice, you
>will find him attempting to thrust no fewer than 48 books. into your arms,
>all hardbacks, with a promise that, if you. should return to the same
>meeting-place next year, he will heave. another 80 at you.
>
>If, by now, the police have arrived and are keeping a close. watch on him,
>you may feel sufficiently emboldened to. examine the books. The jackets are
>a model of. uncluttered typography, elegantly and simply laid out; there is
>an unobtrusive colophon of a rising sun, probably not picked at. random.
>Gaining confidence - the lunatic is. smiling by now, and the policemen, who
>know about such things, have significantly removed their helmets. - you
>could do worse than take the jacket off. the first book in the pile. The
>only word possible to describe the binding is sumptuous;. real cloth in a
>glorious shade of. dark green, with the title and author in black and gold
>on. the spine.
>
>Look. at it more closely; your eyes do not deceive you - it truly does have
>real top-bands and tail-bands, in yellow, and,. for good measure, a silk
>marker ribbon in a lighter green.. The paper is cream-wove and acid-free,
>and the book is sewn,. not glued.
>
>Throughout the encounter, I. should have mentioned, our loony has been
>chattering away, although what he is trying to say. is almost impossible to
>understand; after a time, however, he becomes sufficiently. coherent to make
>clear that he is trying to sell. the books to you. Well, now, such quality
>in bookmaking today can only. be for collectors limited editions at a
>fearsome price - #30, #40,. #50?
>
>No, no, he says, the glitter more powerful than ever and the trembling. of
>his hands rapidly. spreading throughout his entire body; no, no - the books
>are priced variously at #7, #8 or #9,. with the top price #12.
>
>At this, the policemen. understandably put their helmets back on; one of
>them draws his truncheon and the other can be heard. summoning
>reinforcements on his walkie-talkie. The madman bursts into. tears, and
>swears it is all. true.
>
>And. it is.
>
>David Campbell has acquired the entire. rights to the whole of the
>Everymans Library, which died a lingering and shameful death a decade. or
>so ago, and he proposes to start it all over. again - 48 volumes this
>September and 80 more next. year, in editions I have described, at the
>prices specified. He. proposes to launch his amazing venture simultaneously
>in Britain and the United States, with the massive firepower. of Random
>Century at his back in this country, and. the dashing cavalry of Knopf
>across the water, and no. one who loves literature and courage will forbear
>to. cheer.

At the time this article was written I. had believed for some time that
columnists. in the Times and other journalists had been making references to
my situation. Nothing unusual about this. you may think, plenty of people
have the. same sort of ideas and obviously the papers arent writing about
them,. so why should my beliefs not be as false as those of others?

What. makes this article so extraordinary is that three or four days
immediately. preceding its publication, I had a meeting with a friend,
during the course of which. we discussed the media persecution, and in
particular that by. Times columnists. It seemed to me, reading the article
by Levin in Saturday