Subj: Photos Needed for a New Book
Date: 28 January 2000
To: Any Interested Parties
From: Robert M. Schoch
Hello,
I'd like to let you know about a new book project. Robert McNally (my coauthor on Voices of the Rocks) and I are working on another book together. The current title is Voyages of the Pyramid Builders and in many ways it is a follow-up or sequel to Voices of the Rocks. Like Voices, it will be a short trade book (estimated at 100,000 words) intended primarily for a popular audience. The publisher for Pyramids is Harmony Books (a division of Crown Publishers, Random House), the same publisher as for Voices.
The topic matter for Pyramids is essentially three-fold: 1) an overview of the pyramid ("pyramid" used in a broad sense to include classic Egyptian pyramids, stepped pyramids, ziggurats, stupas, temples, monumental stone structures, large ceremonial raised platforms, major mudbrick structures, tamped or earthen mounds, and so forth) as an architectural form around the world, 2) an introduction to the "diffusionist versus independent inventionist" debate and the potential evidence for transoceanic crossings in Pre-Columbian times, and 3) speculations on cometary encounters in ancient times, which in part might have provided an impetus for migrations and oceanic crossings. The effects of comets, asteroids, and other extraterrestrial objects on ancient civilizations is a topic that I broached in Voices (building on the seminal work of other scientists), and I will develop this line of thinking further in Pyramids. I also plan to include a brief encapsulation of my research on the Great Sphinx, with the latest developments, in Pyramids.
We would like to illustrate the book using as many suitable photographs and other illustrations as possible. With that in mind, I would be honored and most grateful if you have any photographs that you would allow us to use in Pyramids. Basically, we are looking for any pyramid or pyramid-related (such as examples of monumental stone architecture) photographs from around the world (be they from the Americas, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, or elsewhere), and other photographs that bear on any of the points outlined in the last paragraph.
The publisher requires either good prints, negatives, slides, or transparencies. Unfortunately we do not have a budget to pay for photographs, but I will be happy to reimburse you for any expenses or charges involved, including the making of duplicate prints or slides, postage, and so forth. If you would be willing to lend me originals (be they negatives, prints, or slides), I will personally make copies of them and immediately return the originals to you unharmed.
The publisher has requested "public domain" photographs, but as long as you are willing to let us use any photographs you might offer in any and all editions of the book, there will not be a problem. Of course, I will make sure that you get proper credit for your photographs (just let me know how you want to be credited and so forth) and in no way will use of your photographs in the book hamper your rights to the photographs otherwise.
I very much hope you will consider allowing us to include some of your photographs in our book. In turn, I am certainly willing to let you use any of my photographs from Egypt or Japan (in particular, the Yonaguni underwater structure), or indeed any other photos that I might have, either now or any time in the future.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,
Robert M. Schoch
Email: Robert Schoch or Robert Schoch
Office Phone: 617-353-2886
Office FAX: 617-353-5868
Mailing address:Robert M. Schoch
College of General Studies
Boston University
871 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02215 U.S.A.
The publisher has requested "public domain" photographs, but as long as you are willing to let us use any photographs you might offer in any and all editions of the book, there will not be a problem. Of course, I will make sure that you get proper credit for your photographs (just let me know how you want to be credited and so forth) and in no way will use of your photographs in the book hamper your rights to the photographs otherwise.
I very much hope you will consider allowing us to include some of your photographs in our book. In turn, I am certainly willing to let you use any of my photographs from Egypt or Japan (in particular, the Yonaguni underwater structure), or indeed any other photos that I might have, either now or any time in the future.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely yours,
Robert M. Schoch
Email: Robert Schoch or Robert Schoch
Office Phone: 617-353-2886
Office FAX: 617-353-5868
Mailing address:Robert M. Schoch
College of General Studies
Boston University
871 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, Massachusetts 02215 U.S.A.