Birth of a Book.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13979, 14 August 1909, Page 3 (Supplement)

Birth of a Book.

GAELIC DICTIONARY. In a rude printing room at the back or a cottage, high perched between Home Hay and Heine, a great and scholarly and toilsome piece nt work is going forward. It- is the New Gaelic Dictionary of Ewan Mac Donald, compiled by himself, printed bv himsell. Thirteen years lie has been at it. His task is as solitary, or well-nigh, so, as anything of the kind could ho. The convict in his coll is scarcely more detached from the world than this dovoted recluse, who, within a few yards of a golf course, spends some twelve or thirteen hours ol every working day at" 'his manuscript, his drawing board, or his press. Cheered by small bodies of supporters in many countries, he has pushed his purpose on, pursuing and acliieving, making a Gaelic dictionary which Gaelic'students have approved, at a steady net profit to himself of about I<l per hour's work. Jlo seems just •such a hero of industry as the heart ol Kuskin would have gone out to. A shilling for a day's grind on a Cache dictionary! He has recently parted with his little library of Gaelic books to buy a fresh stiick ol paper. Encouraging! Expert in Gaelic (the ordinary among lis would as readily embark on Russian). dictionary-builder, draughtsman, compositor, and maker of stereos, Air Mae-l)onald. in his early prime at 45, is self-taught throughout. Horn at •Twickenham, lie has in his veins a blend of English: Welsh, and Cornish blood. At King's College he made himself an engineer, and engineering Wits reluctantly abandoned for banking when lie entered the tirm of Cox and Co., " army agents, -." in whose service lift father "and grandfather - had been for very many years. . Then he. -joined jlie Volunteers.' As a piper, lirst- in the London Scottish Rifles and afterwards in the Ist Argyllshire.. he began to be in some degree in touch with Gaelic; but it was in - Scotland itspll. that he heard.it as a .living tongue. The Celt in him yearned after it. , Now, a good, comprehensive Gaelic dictionary was not easily obtained, and the best was out of print. It might not, in the circumstances, liave occurred to many of us to compile a new one:; but, when the magnitude of the i nterprise is thought on. what a grandly sporting notion ! \ cry possibly .the inspiration was partly that ol the Scottish bride ( native of Argyllshire, speaking Gaelic and English from the cradle), who. in 1896-joined her fortunes with Ewan Mac Donald's. It was, at any rate in M)fi that the great book, "Paclair Gaidhlig," the Gaelic Dictionary, was seriously put in hand. It was to contain more words than ::ny r»titer Gaelic dictionary yet produced, and will probably, in truth, extend to noarl\ I nder conditions h s.s flattering to the worker no other affair of this magnitude can ever yet have been commenced. Not so much modest as mean \vere the lines on which Mac Donald, wa> obliged to travel. For advertisement, for "a bold and taking prospectus, lor the assistance in rosearcli tlu.t asks payment in return, he had no ni..iiey wnatever. Totally unconnected with thi Press, he lacked even the I. ad of tin •• friendly par." Hut the maker ol dictionaries who set< forth upon thesi naked terms is, at all events, compelled to thoroughness. While gtting at grips with his subject Air .MaeDonald read every modern work in the Gaelic, and the few voluntary lielpi rs he succeeded in enlisting at the outset ueri assiduous students of the language.. Hi pul pen to paper in !.■<!>;>, ami toiled on f.t.-aiiily to "G." When the l.ttei "G " had b.-cii completed in manuscript, it was lime lo ihint; of printing; and, having no money to publish in the orthodox way. the compiler'.', sole ehr.iee was to become his own printer.

He preserves as a curiosity the little press made v. itli his own hands— a contrivance which should some day find its place in the museum at Canterbury. Casting about, be picked up one or two useful secondhand machines, and is now the owner of a very fair little plant, simple enough. Gaelic type he procured in quantities sufficient. to enable him to start. ,

The Dictionary itself was not, however. the first product of this wonderful little "• Gaelic Press." A beginning was ma'de with •■Am Feillire agus Leabliar poca Gaidhlig " (Almanac and Gaelic Pocket P.ook), probably the first (ver issued in this country. This ap[>eared in May litol, ami Irom liftv i copies of the earliest issue the number r«.se gradually t<> 'OOO. Increasing work 011 the Dictionary obliged Mr MaeDonald to drop the Almanack last year. Latterly be has found time to print Christinas cards and picture cards in Gaelic, Gaelic sermons for the London Gaelic Services Association, and aoy other matters that an interested Gaelic public will place in bis industrious hands. The twelve hours' day at Ardli.or, Mill-lane, would take the stiffenin,r nut ot old ** l:i ;,c Portlniui. The printing of the Dictionary was be»un in September HJOI. Since that date publication in" sixpenny parts lias been unintermitted. The whole work, in two volumes or in three, as the subscriber pleases ( a guinea in either form) will include about thirty of these parts: and it is the author's hope that less than two years will bring him to an end. Already he lias handled some i!0.0()0 slips of manuscript, and every letter of the type is his own setting. Of the 800 pictures in illustration ot the Dictionary he has himself drawn ail but a score or so. At I'art 7be began to make his own stereos.' and those lie is now making are vastly better than the old ones. 'I his is hammering industry, it one likes! For the first part not more than tweutv-five subscribers were secured. Critical reviews in praise of the venture attracted others, and the numbers | mounted slowly to about ;)00. .I.his j at the present day is almost the lull [ strength of Air Mac Donald s list. He ; ii;is some few subscribers ill Australia i and Sny Zealand, three or four in -\'a- ' tal, one or two in British Central I Africa, one each in Egypt. Honolulu. | and Nicaragua, fifty or so ill England, i a small number in the United States, a

hundred in Canada, and a bare dozen

iir Ireland ; .Professor Galcloz in J'aris and iYoi'essor Zimmern in Germany. Thanks to f.liesc adherents, the Gaelic Dictionary iu>i pays its way. Alter thirteen years All" iltjcj.'onald sells his 1,0.)ks to buy the |>a|>er he owes his subscribers, and locks his workshop night anoij.er shilling to the good. "The ways of the ti.oiju are lull ol provi•ieijcc.'' tight; noi'ivixs.