Griffith Borgeson replies

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Our review of “Bugatti by Borgeson” last month has provoked a letter from the author. He calls our comments “a good review, criticisms and all”, saying that we grasped the spirit in which the book was written. The book’s title is intended to tie-in with another Osprey publication “MG by McComb” but, says Borgeson, a type-setting error caused the sub-title to read “The dynamics of mythology” – it should have read “The dynamics of mythcraft”, which is too subtle for us.

Mr. Borgeson wishes to say that he loves Motor Sport but has to rely in friends who share his more specialised interests to send him copies of references, due to what he calls “an invasion of paper” we know what he means, but are sorry to have missed a valued subscriber. He says that until now he has avoided creating a “Miller myth” and in his book did not attempt to prove anything about Bugatti’s fat-spoke cast-alloy wheel and only drew attention to a certain coincidence, indicating also that Miller’s idea may have derived from Homer Laughlin. Borgeson points out that he makes as clear as it is now possible to ascertain that it was Stefanini, not lng. Coda, who designed the little 1908 Isotta-Fraschini which was for some years ascribed to Ettore Bugatti. His book, he says, has been read by many people “who welcome, most intelligently, the demythification of a great creative personality and his work, apart from one with a unique use to grind”. – W.B.