Ashley MS 2384

'The Zincali'. Drafts of various portions of 'The Zincali', together with drafts of other works. As follows:―

1. Continuous draft corresponding to various sections of the intro-duction, written on both sides of four quarto leaves of white wove paper (ff. 1-4b); circa 1839. No watermark. The final text found in the draft differs in many places from that printed in vol. I, pp. 4-11, l. 4, p. 16, l. 22-p. 18, l. 7 and pp. 19, l. 9-21, l. 22. The draft breaks off at the foot of f. 4b. On ff. 5, 5b is a discarded passage concerning the thieving of the Gypsies. Bifolia are formed by f. 1 and a blank leaf, and by ff. 2 and 5, and 3 and 4. The leaves bear an earlier pencil foliation 169-173. ff. 1-5b.

2. Fair copy, with revisions, of Part I, chapter IV, written on both sides of two conjoined quarto leaves of white wove paper; circa 1839. No watermark. The final text found in the fair copy differs only in minor respects from that printed in vol. I, pp. 74-79. ff. 6-7b.

3. Two drafts of a passage entitled 'The Zingari or Gypsies', describing the pronunciation and articulation of the Gypsies, written on one side only of two quarto leaves of white laid paper and on both sides of a further four; circa 1870. Watermark monogram 'CSA' / 'SUPERFINE' and figure of Britannia. Apparently unpublished. On the verso of the last leaf (f. 13b) are pencil botanical notes concerning Oulton, Suffolk in another hand. The leaves, with one exception, are all conjoined in bifolia, and form a quire arranged as follows: f. 8, f. 9, f. 10 (single leaf), f. 11, f. 12, f. 13, blank, blank, blank. ff. 8-13b.

4. Draft of a passage entitled 'The Zingary or Gypsies', describing the arrival of the Gypsies in Germany, written on both sides of a quarto leaf of white wove paper and on one side only of another, conjoined, leaf; circa 1870. No watermark. Apparently unpublished. ff. 14-15.

5. Draft of part of the chapter 'Metropolitan Gypsyries' from Romano Lavo-Lil, written on one side only of two octavo leaves of white laid paper, and on both sides of a further seven; circa 1870. No watermark. The final text found in the draft differs in a few places from that printed in the first edition of 1874 on pp. 267-273, l. 14. One leaf, formerly conjoined with f. 19, is missing. It presumably bore the text corresponding to p. 268, l. 12-269, l. 22 as printed. On f. 16 is the autograph title 'Chap / The Gypsies'. The leaves, with one exception, are all conjoined in bifolia, and form a quire arranged as follows: f. 16, blank, blank, f. 17, f. 18, f. 19, stub, f. 20, f. 21, f. 22, f. 23, f. 24. ff. 16-24.

6. Draft of a long passage, arranged in two chapters, concerning the Gypsies in Scotland, written on one side only of five quarto leaves of white laid paper and both sides of a further sixteen; [circa 1870]. Watermark 'Towgood's / Extra Super' (ff. 37, 38, 41, 44) and figure of Britannia (ff. 36, 40, 42, 43, 45). Apparently unpublished. On f. 30b are thirteen lines of verse in Romany not part of the passage, but which correspond to part of the 'Rhymed List of Gypsy Verbs' printed on pp. 105-106 of Romano Lavo-Lil, 1874. With the exception of ff. 27, 30, 33, 36 and 37 the leaves all form bifolia. A quire is formed by ff. 40-45, but the rest are simply arranged by bifolia or single leaves. The pages are numbered 1-37 in Borrow's hand. There is an earlier foliation, which only takes account of one leaf in each bifolium, running from 72-88. ff. 25-45b.

Quarto; ff. i+45.

George Borrow, writer: 'The Zincali' by George Borrow: circa 1839 and (related material) circa 1870: Autogr. drafts and other related material. Imperf.