Page:An Icelandic-English Dictionary - Cleasby & Vigfusson - 1874.djvu/14

vi autumn of the same year he was taken ill, but was in a fair way to recovery, when; by resuming work too soon, he suffered a relapse. His illness took the form of typhus fever, and he died insensible, without being able to make any arrangements respecting his papers and collections.

Mr. Cleasby’s heirs, anxious that his labours should not be thrown away, paid a considerable sum of money to certain persons in Copenhagen, for the purpose of completing the book. But in 1854 came a demand for more money; and as it seemed doubtful whether the work was likely to be finished in any reasonable time, and on any reasonable terms, it was determined that the whole of the MSS. should be sent to England. It seems, however, that none of Mr. Cleasby's original slips were included in the papers sent. These papers consist of rough transcripts, made after Mr. Cleasby’s death by various students in Copenhagen, whereas his original papers have not to this day come over to England.

It is clear, from an examination of these transcripts, that scarcely any part of the Dictionary, with the exception of the words sent to Grimm, had been completed during Mr. Cleasby’s lifetime or by him. The letters D, F, J, K, N, O, P, S, U, V, and H (partially), were worked out after his death by the Copenhagen editors, but in such a manner that it would have been much better to have had Mr. Cleasby’s papers in their original form. In his collections he appears to have been accustomed to write out in full the references taken from MSS., while he made but a brief note by page or otherwise of words drawn from printed books. This he probably did, both to save labour and also because he may have looked forward to being able to complete his book In England, where the printed editions, but not the MSS., would have been within his reach. The editors have simply copied out these references, adding and explaining little or nothing.

The MSS. in this state were placed at the disposal of the well-known Icelandic scholar, Mr. G. Webbe Dasent, and In the year 1855 he proposed to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press at Oxford to undertake the publication of the Dictionary under the belief that the collections left by Mr. Cleasby would not require much revision to fit them for publication. A specimen was set up in type, and Mr. Dasent himself undertook to see the book through the Press.

The matter, however, remained In abeyance till the year 1864, when Mr. Dasent again brought it before the Delegates. They, having taken into consideration the great value of a complete and accurate Dictionary of the old classical Scandinavian language, and the great interest this language has for students of Old English, were persuaded to renew their engagement with Mr. Dasent and to undertake the publication of the work. Mr. Dasent consented, as before, to revise the proof-sheets, to correct the English explanations and translations, and to add parallel words and usages from the Old English and Scottish dialects. He also stated to the Delegates that the papers were left in an imperfect state, and asked them to grant a sum of money, for the