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Introduction
Therealinnarrativeisalwaysconventional.
RuthYeazell
ThePrincetonUniversityLibraryholdsanitemthatseems
insignificant,butisofgreatinteresttoscholarsofGeorgeEliot:
asmallnotebookboundinblackfabric.Thewhitepaperlabel
carriesthewordHQuarry”writteninGeorgeEliot’shandwriting.
Theauthorroutinelyusedthisnameforthenotebooksinwhich
sheplannedhernovels.WhileEliot’sotherHQuarries,”used
forMiddlemarch(1871-2)andDanielDeronda(1876)andheld
respectivelybytheHarvardUniversityLibraryandtheNew
YorkPublicLibrary,havereceivedafairamountofcritical
attention,1thePrincetonHQuarry”differsfromtheotherbetter-
knownnotebooksinthatitapparentlyincludesnotesforanovel
thatGeorgeEliotdidnotcomplete.
Inaningeniouspieceofdeduction,basedonGeorgeEliot’suse
ofpurpleink,towhichshebecamepartialwhenrevisingthelast
portionsofMiddlemarchin1872,andonameticulousanalysisof
hercorrespondence,JeromeBeaty,whopublishedatranscriptof
thenotebookinthe1950s,offeredatentativedating.Hesuggested
thatthenotebook,inallprobability,comesfromtheperiodafter
thepublicationofDanielDeronda(1876)andcontainsearlyideas
foraprojectednewnovel–aworkthatEliotwasnotableto
completeduetoherprematuredeathin1880.ThePrinceton
notebook,despitethescantinessofthematerialitcontains(of
the32leaves,onlythefirstsevenpagescontainwriting–therest
isleftblank),providesaninvaluableglimpseintoGeorgeEliot’s
futureplans.Itseemsinexplicablethat,asfarasIwasableto
1
AlistofeditionsofthenotebooksforMiddlemarchandDanielDerondaand
relatedcriticalpublicationscanbefoundinRignall(2000:482-484).
