- The British publisher of a book about the murder of Robert
Maxwell, the former owner of the New York Daily News and the MacMillan
publishing company, has described the behaviour of the US publisher he
sold the book to as "highly irresponsible".
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- Jeremy Robson has seen the UK version of the book go
through three large reprints in two weeks.
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- But Herman Graf, President of Carroll & Graf in New
York, has refused to say how many copies he has printed - or explained
a deepening mystery that equals that surrounding the death of Robert Maxwell.
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- It centres on Graf's relationship with Isabel Maxwell
- twin daughter of New York socialite Ghislaine Maxwell.
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- Isabel is the daughter of Robert Maxwell and lives in
San Francisco.
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- Unknown to the authors of the book - Robert Maxwell:
Israel's Super Spy - changes were made to the book's jacket after Isabel
Maxwell had been secretly given an uncorrected proof copy of the manuscript
that Robson had supplied to Graf.
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- Robson has confirmed that the manuscript carried with
it a legally binding confidentiality agreement that nobody outside the
US publishing company was to see the manuscript until he said so.
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- But two months before publication, Carroll & Graf
now admit they sent a copy of the then still uncorrected proof copy to
Isabel.
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- Herman Graf also confirmed that one of his executives
at the publisher's parent company - Avalon - was a "close personal
friend of Isabel".
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- As a result of that relationship, the jacket was changed
- and Isabel Maxwell was allowed to use the uncorrected proof to launch
an attack on authors Gordon Thomas and Martin Dillon.
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- All the claims she made in the UK based Jewish Chronicle
about inaccuracies do not appear in the published edition of the book.
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- Graf has also admitted to author Martin Dillon, who lives
in New York, that he sent two other unedited copies of the book to "un-named
persons" who he refuses to identify.
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- "This is no longer a spat between authors and their
publisher. This goes to the heart of the trust a writer puts in his publisher.
Mr Graf has abused that trust," said Mr Dillon, 53, a former BBC senior
producer and author of the previous bestsellers, "The Shankill Butchers"
and "The Dirty War".
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- And London publisher Jeremy Robson has said he is "astonished
at what has happened in America".
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- Part of the mystery surrounds plans that the NBC show,
Dateline, have for a program on the story behind the book.
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- Dillon says he has been informed that the program plans
a "hatchet job".
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- NBC filmed Thomas in London. "I was under the impression
the item was for the Today Show. Only later did I hear that Dateline had
an interest in the item," said Thomas, from his home near Dublin,
Ireland.
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- Earlier in the year Graf told the authors that he had
"huge plans to promote the book. We will hire the finest publicists
in the city, we will print a huge number. It will be coast to coast all
the way," Thomas recalls Graf saying.
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- But now all Carroll & Graf plans to promote the book
have stopped. The authors are organising their own campaign - not just
about the book. But to draw attention to the fragile relationship between
authors and their publishers when, as Thomas said, "outside forces
intervene".
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- For further information:
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- Jo Phillips <mailto:jo@tenalps.com>jo@tenalps.com
and Tel: 0044 7710 245 039
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- Jeremy Robson <mailto:jrobson@chrysalisbooks.co.uk>jrobson@chrysalisbooks.co.uk
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