Author Description

Excerpt from Assyrian and Babylonian Letters Belonging to the Kouyunjik Collections of the British Museum, Vol. 13 The present Part contains the texts of ninety-seven tablets and four plates of k.k. 4267, 4276; 1 361, reproduced by the collotype process. On many Of these texts the name of the scribe has been broken away. N o attempt has been made to classify such Letters as this more naturally falls within the province of the commentary. Again few restorations of the text have been attempted as corrections and restorations are reserved for the Part on Textual Notes. N o. 1282 has been published by george smith; N o. 1278 by pinches; Nos. 1279, 1281, 1283, 1304, 1311 and 1326, have been published by winckler; Nos. 1277, 1280, 1308, 1339, 1367, 1368 and 1369 by waterman, and I am indebted to them for their copies, which were carefully prepared. I have not been able, however, to accept all their readings, and I may also say that I do not expect scholars to accept all mine. Many of these tablets are broken and most difficult to read, and in such it is Often impossible to form a connected text. Again there are as many different handwritings as there were scribes. Hence, there will be many places where scholars may differ from my readings. In the final collation of all the Letter texts, I myself hope to be able to decide the reading of many passages, about which there is, to my mind, still some uncertainty. A few very important texts, which cannot be properly classified as Letters, but which contain information such as we should expect to find in the form of Letters, are included in this Part. Compare bezold's Catalogue, and waterman in his Chicago Dissertation. As already stated in Part VI, I am much honoured by the attention shown to this class of literature, and I wish to state again that, as soon as the texts are published, they become public property, and anyone may use them for any purpose he may wish. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes