Michael’s Grove S W.
8th February, 1871
My dear Sir
I have just received your letter and enclosures, for which please accept my best thanks, and especially for the list of words. I am not yet at the end of letter M which I expect will extend to page 900, but it is all in type, and I am weary of it. I am very glad you have got Smith’s Assurbanipal, and I think you will approve it generally. A great advantage of it is that he has had the original slabs before him, several more than had been found when the volume was finished, and he has inserted all the additions and corrections; I wish he had mentioned them always and kept to numbering of page the lines of the published book. I say “published” because I heard of a copy having been received from the Museum yesterday; I have not yet got my copy.
As to zapal I have just looked at my Manuscript dictionary, and find it marked with ?, and the words “perhaps overflowed lands” so that I have reserve it for examination. I may find more examples before I get to the place. My increasing age and the remaining results of my accident, have retarded the progress of my dictionary, but not so much as I might have expected; I think I shall have a third volume out (p 1050 or 1060) by the end of the year.
Yours faithfully
Edwin Norris
H. Fox Talbot, Esq
&c &c &c