Gaia: | <p>Henry Yule spent more than two years (1883-1885) reviewing and revising the page proofs of the <em>Hobson-Jobson</em>, during which time he also engaged in frequent correspondence with James Murray as the latter was editing the early fasicicles of the <em>New English Dictionary</em> (NED). Murray's consultations with Yule on topics pertaining to India, Ceylon, and Malaya eventually prompted Yule to send Murray a copy of the <em>Hobson-Jobson's</em> page proofs, from which Murray extracted numerous definitions and quotations, as he openly acknowledged (see also Nagle [forthcoming]):</p><p>Colonel Yule has generously allowed us the use of the proofs of his Discursive Glossary of Anglo-Indian Colloquial Terms, an important work now in the press, which has often been of service in helping to complete the history of such of these words as fall within our province (Murray 1885, vi).</p><p>Yule, too, mentioned their corresponsnce in his preface:</p><p>Dr. J.A.H. Murray, editor of the great English Dictionary, has also been most kind and courteous in the interchange of communications, a circumstance which will account for a few cases in which the passages cited in both works are the same (Yule 1886, ix-x).</p><p>Yet since the <em>Hobson-Jobson</em> was already in page proofs when the bulk of the Yule-Murray correspondence took place, there was not much opportunity for Murray and the NED to have influenced Yule's work. Or was there? The recently discovered page proofs of the <em>Hobson-Jobson</em> reveal that Yule made substantial changes to his book at the proof stage, during the height of his correspondence with Murray. This paper examines these changes and the Murray-Yule correspondence, and illustrates the extent of the influence that these men had on each other's work.</p>
|