Department of Oriental Antiq British Museum
January 21st 1871
My dear Sir
I thank you very much for the £25 which you sent to me through Mr Norris for the work on Assurbanipal I have sent you the proofs to p. 144 and will send you copies of all the other sheets as I receive them my plan is as follows, restorations are in square brackets [ ] variants are in as follows (v. ) and passages in one copy omitted on in other copies ( ) – About P117 you will find a misprint Col VI being given instead of Col V as the heading, in all the other copies they have promised to alter this – I am having 250 copies printed and as many as you desire shall be placed at your service – I intend to translate all the best texts of Assurbanipal’s reign and if I have room to <ill. del.> give a chapter on the meaning of the principal words in the inscriptions, taking them in the order in which they occur and giving such equivalents and proofs as I know
Mr Bosanquet with whom I have communicated says he shall be happy for your assistance in enabling me to finish the work he himself has now given £50 in addition to the £100 which he promised me at the commencement of the work. I shall do my best to make the book really useful to students first by careful texts and then by such translations and explanations as I can give
Yours respectfully
George Smith
H. Fox Talbot Esq