New-York tribune., 1882-02-19
DElN ST1NLFY,S H4NDWRI7ING.

Correspondence ot The AhenG1un.
From the paragraph IN your " Literary G0Sslp
last week concerning Dean Stanleys forthcoming
article on +. w. Robertson, 1t would seem that
while publishers and printers on the other side OF
the Atlantic can command so much skill and success
in the engraving ana printing of book Illustrations,
they still Lac far behind in the decipherHg OF bad
literary Ms. Had the good Dean lived TO receive
the returned copy ! venture to think It would
have been his first experience OF the klnd III h'S
long and varied literary career. Doubtless he knew
well how bad his :" copy was, but he never liked
to think its dinIcutics lnsuperabe, far less to hear
il claSScd with Mexican or any other lorOldulng
hicrogiyphcs" and his experiences with London
printers confirmed this view. For seventeen years
have been familiar with the Deans Mc-ln re-
views sermons. magazine articles ana bOOkS-and
only once during that time have known an Eng
ll,h printer return it as hopeless. Even then the
author assistance was not required, Tor within
twenty-fOur hours the publishers returned Il tar
copy OF the MS-a long article for Il monthly re,
yicw-tO the printing Office, and the Dean received
ms proofs rs ii no dltIculty had occurred lndeeu
to anyone at all familiar with bad copy the
Deans offered no great difficulty. so long as the
thread OF narrative or argument could be followed.
Ii was when some foOt-uOte was added or some adj
ditlon or eXclsOn was made that the drcipherHg
became perpleXng. and then 1t was often ali bat
impossible to say which part was TO g out ana
which come in. In the same way II Is easy To Under
stand the difficulties of the POst-oiiCe in decpher
ing the Deans envelopes. Or. Ii. II. story tells IN
t,00d UOrds, September, 1881 story OF one OF
these winch shows both the skill Oi our Iost-Jiico
authorities and the good Deans uuWililngnesS TO
admit his own deficiency in this matter: onco
received a letter from his a week Old, ana that had
travelled far and wide reaching me at 90 Inver
ness Terrace W., TO which be had addressed il.
Try Holloway Road had been added by some in-
eSr'3Gf nHd ne Tr6te bc@anie ignorn the
lllcgibilIy Of his Inverness Terrace - see that
my address was right, as iat as II wcnt5 Holloway
Road was added by the pos masters
The Dean himself certainly found no difficulties,
such as are hlntcd at, with his Ms. remember
that on enc occasion a special Abbey sermon was
nut INTO type before it preached, and great
"a
serve for pulpit 1t was cut mp into short por'
tOns, pasted on sermon paper win Wlue marquis
and carefully stitched together. But all this labor
proved Of no avail The Dean found the pulpit
proof useless, and at once sent hurried message
ior his own copy, lie could use 1t, and 1t only IN
"ND writes from the point Of view of the proof
reader When the COmpOsltOr had deciphered III
some measure the Deans copy. il possible Tor
the reader to guess the meaning OF the rest: But
few COmpOsltOrs over here would lace the Dedn
manuscript. and probably no American would
waste his time OH it'd. Athcnrum.
If all the late Dean Staney's cofreSpohdGpiS were
to relate their experience IN reference 10 ms manu.
writing, It would form an amusing volume
never heard him alludo To II but once, ana tben 10
characterize it as Il yillainOus hand" On one
Occa sion had an important appointment WI II MN
in b' studv Inf WAS utterly unable TO decipher the
hierogvphics which be intended TO represent the
particular hour OF the day. Being engaged IN ms
neghborhood early IN the morning, sent mesSen,
ger TO the Deanery TO ask for the precise h0ut ana
particularly requested a verbal answer; but the
Dean WAS incorrlglble and returned my note with
something scrawled at tho bottom-what 1t twas
impossible to tell. 1t was hopeessly unlrtegbe.
and was compelled to decide upon an hour myself
and take the chance OF finding lin ready for me.
The object of my visit was in point. 1t was to
revise with HIM the nuumeIable dates in the hrst
edition of his Memorials of Westminster. The
great majority OF these were painfully, sometimes
iudicr0usly. wrong, ald of course misleading. /
remember that my Ms. corrections covered some
score of closely written foolscap pages. have no
doubt that he had originally written the dates cor
rectly, as he had the Abbey Registers in his own