[ Gordon Gyll of Wraysbury, author and translator. ] Autograph Letter in the third person to the editor of the Cambridge Chronicle, urging at length a review of his 'Tractate on Language'.

Author: 
Gordon Gyll [ Gordon Willoughby James Gyll ] (1818-1878) of Wraysbury, Buckinghamshire, author and translator of Cervantes etc[ Sir John R. Somers Vine (1847-1929), editor of the Cambridge Chronicle ]
Publication details: 
7 Lower Seymour St, Portman Square, London, on embossed letterhead of the Royal Institute of Great Britain. 13 February 1881.
£180.00
SKU: 19962

4pp., 12mo. Bifolium. In good condition, lightly aged, with minor traces of stub at inner edge. A shameless plug for his book 'A Tractate on Language, with Observations on the French Tongue' (1860), closely written over four pages. As 'an old Oxford man', he 'shd feel obliged if the Editor wd give some notice of his work a "Tractate on Language" - in his weekly paper'. He had 'caused a Copy to be transmitted to him, & he trusted that if the book did not command a detailed review some observations wd be made about it - & in a note sent at the time he expressed a desire to have any paper in wh. a notice however brief was inserted | Shd. any notice be taken Mr Gyll will cause several advertisements to be made in the paper announcing the work - its publisher & price'. Gyll wishes to point out that 'this publication chiefly concerns the Universities & Seminaries of learning, & is the result of time, thought, zeal, & expence', and so it is 'not irrelevant to call the attention of Reviewers to it'. He lists some of the 'many papers' in which his book has been 'reviewed favorably'. He makes some observations regarding his book before stating: 'It would be supererogatory to advert more minutely to the singularities of composition'. Nevertheless he continues in his attempt to prime a possible reviewer. He notes that he has 'presented Copies to most of the London Clubs - & to many renowned for their knowledge of philology - He has also presented a Copy to H. Royal Highness the Prince Consort for the Royal Library'. A presentation copy has been forwarded to the editor, and concludes in the hope that 'this tribute to grammatical science may find a niche in the diffused Columns of the Cambridge Chronicle'.