For a considerable time before the outbreak of war, Boosey & Hawkes, Ltd., had been in negotiation with Universal Edition of Vienna with the object of acquiring the works of several internationally known composers published by the latter firm. Agreement was eventually reached and under the terms of a contract dated August 17th, 1939, we became the owners of all works by Béla Bartók, Frederick Delius, Zoltán Kodály, Gustav Mahler and Jaromir Weinberger, the copyrights of which had hitherto been held by Universal Edition. The works by Mahler and Weinberger were acquired by us for the entire world, while those of Bartók, Delius and Kodály became our property for the British Empire, the North, Central and Latin Americas, and mandated territories.