From: Edwin Norris (16 August 1856)

From: Edwin Norris (16 August 1856)

Correspondence

A letter from Edwin Norris to Wilhelm Bleek, dated 16 August 1856, on Royal Asiatic Society letterhead. Norris apologises for his delayed reply, noting Bleek's vocabularies were completed three months earlier but no full copy has yet been produced. Exhausted from work, he is heading to the seaside to recover, though at 61 he has modest hopes. He is currently engaged with Government-funded Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions destined for European libraries. Norris notes no recent developments in African dialects but thanks Bleek for the copies he sent, calling them proof of his progress. He inquires after conditions in the Colony, having heard Natal is now independent of the Cape, and closes with a promise to distribute the vocabulary and send Bleek a copy when available.

16 August 1856

Wilhelm Bleek (Edwin Norris' letter to 16 August 1856) (vocabularies complete but not fully copied) (Edwin Norris promises to distribute and send copies of vocabularies to him) (sent Edwin Norris copies as evidence of his progress), Edwin Norris (letter to Wilhelm Bleek from 16 August 1856) (promises to distribute and send copies of vocabularies to Wilhelm Bleek) (engaged with Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions for government) (comments on war and politics in England) (comments on Cape and Natal colonies) (Wilhelm Bleek sent him copies as proof of progress) (taking seaside holiday due to exhaustion from overwork) (comments on age and exhaustion), letter (to Wilhelm Bleek from Edwin Norris 16 August 1856), vocabulary (Wilhelm Bleek's are complete but not fully copied) (Edwin Norris promises to distribute and send copies to Wilhelm Bleek) (in letter from Edwin Norris to Wilhelm Bleek 16 August 1856), language (Wilhelm Bleek's vocabularies are complete but not fully copied) (Edwin Norris: nothing new in African dialects) (Edwin Norris working on Assyrian and Babylonian inscriptions) (Edwin Norris to send Wilhelm Bleek's vocabularies to him) (in letter from Edwin Norris to Wilhelm Bleek 16 August 1856)

1. Includes an archivist's label/note describing letters from linguist Edwin Norris to Wilhelm Bleek, 1856-1866. 2. Norris was secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society from 1856 and managed/edited its Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, working at the Foreign Office at the same time.