Montagu had kept a journal when he first visited India in 1912–13, and he did the same during the Cabinet Mission to India in 1917–18, dictating the entries from day to day to his shorthand writer, George Franey (An Indian Diary, p. v). At least four contemporary typed or carbon-copy versions of the text were made during Montagu’s lifetime, as follows:
(A) A typed version containing handwritten corrections in ink. This version was typed by Franey in instalments during the journey from his shorthand notes, and cor-rected by him or Montagu. The sheets were typed on one side only and numbered 1–241, 241a, 242–354, 354a, 355–70, 371/372 (one sheet), 373–468, 468[a], 469–484, 484a, 485–521, 521a, and 522–43. Those which survive are divided between MONT 2/8/1 and MONT II A5/1. Sheets 1–6, 199–255, and 375–454 are wanting. Sheet 24 is a carbon copy bearing a typed correction.
(B) A carbon copy of A, corrected in a similar way. This version also bears marks and alterations in red, blue, and grey pencil, which were made in preparing the text for the press (see below). The sheets are arranged and numbered as A, and those which survive are likewise divided between MONT 2/8/1 and MONT II A5/2. Sheets 100–2, 185–224, and 481 are wanting. Copies of sheets 199–224 are therefore wanting from both version A and version B.
(C) A typed transcript of A, incorporating the handwritten corrections. This was the version which Montagu sent to his wife in instalments. Only one instalment, containing pages 1–6, is extant (MONT II B1/144). The contents of these pages corre-spond to the first sections of A and B, but the arrangement is different and there are other minor variations.
(D) A bound typed copy in the India Office Library. This has not been inspected, but is probably complete.
It is clear that in at least some cases two carbon copies of the original typescript were made, since A and B both include carbon copies of sheet 24.
Text B was used to prepare the text of the published version of the diary, which was edited by Venetia Montagu with the help of Alan Parsons and published by Heinemann in 1930 under the title An Indian Diary. Parts of the original text were omitted from this edition, including Montagu’s account of his journey to India and a number of characteristically waspish observations. Part of the printed version is at MONT II E2/2.
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