Ashley MS 2388

'Lavengro'. Drafts; [1843-1848] .

1. Draft, heavily revised, and with several rejected passages, of parts of Vol. I, chapter xiv (ff. 1-7) and xv (ff. 7b-9b), written on both sides of seven quarto leaves of white laid paper, and on one side only of two part quarto leaves of the same (ff. 3, 7). Watermarks '1843' and armed lion rampant on crowned shield. Bifolia are formed by ff. 1 and 9, 2 and 8, and 4 and 5. On ff. 1 and 7b is the heading 'Chap'. The final text found in the draft differs in a few places only from that printed on pp. 177-182, l. 21 and pp. 186-193, but in many places from that printed on pp. 194-198, l. 11. ff. 1-9b.

2. Draft, with an extensive discarded passage, of the second half of Vol. II, chapter vi, written on both sides of a quarto leaf of white laid paper, and on one side only of another. The leaves are conjoined. Watermark 'J Wright / 1846'. The final text found in the draft differs in a few places only from that printed on pp. 56, l. 6-58 (end of chapter). ff. 10-11.

3. Draft of the last third of Vol. III, chapter xviii (ff. 12-14), and of the whole of chapters xix (ff. 14b-17), xx (ff. 17b-19) and xxi. (ff. 19b-25b), written on both sides of fourteen quarto leaves of white laid paper. Watermarks 'J Wright / 1846' (ff. 17, 18), 'W Stradling / 1843' (ff. 15, 20, 24), and figure of Britannia (ff. 12-14, 16, 19, 21-23, 25). The leaves have been folded from folio leaves, thus forming bifolia, with which Borrow has then made up a quire, arranged as follows: blank + f. 25; blank + f. 24; f. 12 + f. 23; f. 13 + f. 22; f. 14 + f. 21; f. 15 + f. 20; f. 16 + f. 19; f. 17 + f. 18. On ff. 14b, 17b, and 19b is the heading 'Chap'. The final text found in the draft differs in several places from that printed on pp. 221, l. 2-259 (end of chapter). There is an extensive discarded passage on ff. 19, 19b. In chapter xviii Isopel Berners is referred to as Bess, though on f. 12, l. 3 this has been emended to Bell. Words rendered by dots in the printed text are supplied in the MS. ff. 12-25b.

4. Draft, heavily revised, of the second half of Vol. III, chapter xxv, written on both sides of two conjoined leaves of grey laid paper. Watermark 'Backhouse / & / Lawrence / 1846'. The pages of the MS. have been numbered 5-8 in Borrow's hand. The final text found in the draft differs in a few places from that printed on pp. 295, l. 15-300 (end of chapter). A draft of the opening pages of Vol. III, chapter xxv, directly preceding the pages found in 2388, art. 4, is now

Add. MS. 59892 S. ff. 26-27b.

5. Letter from Professor H. G. Wright to T. J. Wise, 2 Feb. 1924. Imperf. The letter, of which only the first leaf remains, discusses the MS. of 'Lavengro' and is accompanied by two notes by Wright, written on scraps of paper, identifying and commenting on portions of the MS. It is difficult to reconcile the letter, the second of the notes, and the MS. as it now exists. ff. ii-iv.

Quarto; ff. iv+27.

George Borrow, writer: 'Lavengro' by George Borrow: [1843-1848]: Autogr. drafts of various portions of the work.

includes:

• ff. ii, iib Herbert Gladstone Wright: Thomas James Wise, book collector: Letter to Thomas James Wise from (?) Herbert Gladstone Wright: 1924: Imperf.