Friends,
I am working on a research project and would like to know what VN (or someone) has written in the margin on the first notecard of the manuscript of the PF poem. A picture of the card is included in Boyd's VNAY, if you want to see for yourself, but I have attached a blown up image. The second word is clearly "canto" but the rest I can't read. Is it Russian? Any help you can give me would be much appreciated.
Matt Roth
text deciphered
Hello Matt,
Yes, the rest of the text is in Russian. I guess, I can make it out:
Кончать canto
не выше середины
страницы. Затем
чистую стр. [страницу?]
Finish the Canto
not higher than the middle
of the page. Then [begin]
a new p. [page?]
It looks like an instruction to the publisher of PF. But why is it in Russian?
Hope, this helps:)
Best,
Alexey
Thanks, Alexey!
That's very helpful. It wouldn't be an instruction to the printer, since the printer received a clean typescript that was made based on the notecards. Perhaps it was an instruction to the typist, Jaqueline Callier, but if so I don't know why it would be in Russian. Strange.
Matt