[Ancient Near East Department, British Museum Correspondence 1826–1867, volume 13, new series.5682]
Lacock Abbey
Chippenham
August 2d
My dear Mr Birch
The sort of commentary of which you have sent a specimen would be undoubtedly very useful to a student, but I fear it would extend to such a length as to make it impracticable to publish it, unless the texts selected were very short ones.
The standard inscription is not well suited for beginners. Those who composed it had not the slightest idea of “style”, or the logical sequence of ideas. In this they were very inferior to Tiglath Pileser <1> who lived 250 years earlier. His inscription would make a good textbook were it not so long. The expense of printing is considerably increased when cuneiform types are interspersed: perhaps, a few texts might be lithographed by Mr Bowler <2> with an interlinear commentary. I shall be glad next time I come to town to have any suggestion from you as to what might be usefully done to promote the study of Assyrian.
Yours truly
H.F. Talbot
Notes:
1. WHFT translated (March 1857) the inscriptions of a cylinder dating from the reign of the Asyrian King Tiglath Pileser I (1115–1077 BC). [See Doc. No: 00092].
2. Robert Ewan Bowler (1794-1874), engraver, lithographer & artist, London.