The staff of Trowbridge Press at 23 Bryn Mill Road, Aberystwyth, Wales is pleased to announce to readers of the New English Review that the second fascicle, H-N, of our ongoing project, the Esperanto-Volapuk Dictionary, has just been published. It can be ordered  directly from the publisher for 230 pounds (or $30,000 American dollars) and also may be found at leading booksellers (Foyle's, Blackwell's, Heffer's, Heywood Hill) or bought on-line.  At the same time, one can still order, from the publisher, or those booksellers, or on-line, copies of the first fascicle, A-G, which remains in print.

We are keenly aware that eleven years have passed since that first fascicle was published, but we are convinced that the remaining two fascicles will appear at much shorter intervals than the latest one. This speeding-up is due to both technological advances, such as the replacement of the office's single Apple IIe by two Dell Inspirons,  and to the enlargement of our full-time staff from one to two. We expect that the third fascicle, O-S, will be published  within four years, and the final fascicle T-Z, is now scheduled to appear three years after that.

Indeed, so sure are we of our ability to bring the present project to completion in timely fashion that we are already busily engaged in doing research on generous transatlantic  foundations, in order to apply for multi-year grants that will be used to support our next project. And despite the impoverished American dollar, we are hoping that the size of the grants we receive will offset that decrease in that poor dollar's value.

Still in the planning stages, that future project is one that we believe can best be undertaken, and successfully brought to completion, by our new team. And that future project, dreamed of by so many scholars for so long, follows almost naturally from our present one. It is nothing less than the compilation of the first Volapuk-Esperanto Dictionary.  No doubt this will require plenty of hard and dedicated work. There will be, no doubt, discouragements along the way. Some welll-wishers have already told us that they believe a Volapuk-Esperanto Dictionary  will prove to be much more difficult an undertaking  than the Esperanto-Volapuk dictionary. They have counselled caution, told us we should not try to push ourselves or rush things, or to assume that such a dictionary can be completed in less time than it is taking to complete the one now still underway.

We are mindful of such advice from those who wish us only well. But we remain confident. Dedicated lexicographers are not easily fazed.