Here are references to early draft versions of XML-related proposals, and so forth. 'Early' means about 1996-1997. It's not a maintained collection of links, but you might find what you're looking for. . .

• [March 05, 1997] The Extensible Markup Language (XML) Specification is now canonically in two parts, as indicated by the hub page: (1) Extensible Markup Language (XML) [W3C Working Draft 14-Nov-96], and (2) Hypertext Links in XML [W3C Working Draft March-5-97], [mirror copy].
• [April 02, 1997] New revision of Part I. Extensible Markup Language (XML): Part I. Syntax Reference ids: WD-xml-lang-970331; W3C-SGML-ERB DD-1996-0004; W3C Working Draft 31-Mar-97. [mirror copy]
• Extensible Markup Language (XML): Part 2. Linking , W3C Working Draft April-06-97 = WD-xml-link-970406. Part 2 of the XML draft "specifies a simple set of constructs that may be inserted into XML documents to describe links between objects. It is a goal to use the power of XML to create a structure that can describe both the simple unidirectional hyperlinks of today's HTML, as well as more sophisticated multi-ended, typed, self-describing links." The editors are Tim Bray (Textuality) and Steve DeRose (Inso Electronic Publishing Solutions). [mirror copy]
• Announcement from Jon Bosak for the availability of a draft document "that puts the existing DSSSL Online (dsssl-o) specification in a form that can easily be made into a Working Draft for XML Part 3 (Part 3 of the XML specification suite)" as the discussion for XML Part 3 (XML Style) now gets underway. Although different style specifications may be developed for XML documents, "xml-style has always been defined as based on a subset of DSSSL." See http://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/sun-info/standards/dsssl/xs/xs970522.ps.zip, or possibly a later version; [mirror copy]
• Extensible Markup Language (XML) - Summary and Resources, from the Textuality Web Site
• The March 31, 1997 draft of the XML Language specification is also available from the Sunsite WWW server, in Postscript format or in RTF format; [mirror copy for gzipped Postscript]
• [June 02, 1997] Announcement from Murata Makoto (Fuji Xerox Information Systems) for the completion of a Japanese translation of Part 1 and Part 2 of the XML (Extensible Markup Language) specification. Work is also underway to translate the XML FAQ document, and the important article "XML, Java and the Future of the Web".
• Announcement for a translation of the November XML draft into Japanese, provided by Mr. Murata Makoto of Fuji Xerox Information Systems. The draft is available at http://www.fxis.co.jp/DMS/sgml/xml/wd-xml-lang.html [March 18, 1997]
• Fuji Xerox Information Systems has put up a nice Japanese XML information page at http://www.fxis.co.jp/DMS/sgml/xml/index.html
• See: "Generic SGML over the Web." A document on the W3C Web server which includes a provisional timetable for the XML design: "(1) simplified version of SGML suitable for Internet applications [SGML '96, November 1996]; (2) specification of standard hypertext mechanisms for SGML applications [ WWW6 Conference, April 1997]; (3) Public text and extensions needed to apply the DSSSL stylesheet language (ISO/IEC 10179) to Web browsers [December 1997]"
• The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) -- A report on the work to date [November 07, 1996] of the SGML on the Web ERB, by Martin Bryan, The SGML Centre. [mirror copy, November 07, 1996]; [mirror copy, October 30, 1996]
• See the section on "SGML Revision" for additional links to documents describing a simplified SGML: ( e.g., 'MGML' by Tim Bray, and 'Minimal SGML Feature Set,' by Eliot Kimber)
• W3C SGML ERB Working Document Repository, representing "a snapshot of work under way in the World Wide Web Consortium SGML Editorial Review Board." Maintained by Tim Bray [NB: "These documents are not official in any sense..."] The following four links are from this document collection:
• W3C-SGML-ERB Technical Resolution 1996-01: SGML ERB and WG Organization [Approved 1996.08.07]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996]
• W3C SGML ERB External Communication 1996-01: Bootstrap Process for Specialized WG/ERB [Approved 1996.08.07]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996]
• Draft DD-1996-0001 - Design Principles for XML [Date: August 25, 1996]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996]
• Features and Rules of ISO 8879. A Summary for Use In Discussions of the W3C SGML Working Group And Editorial Review Board. Document W3C-SGML-ERB DD-1996-0002, by C. M. Sperberg-McQueen. Contains a linked listing of proposed subsets or simplifications of SGML, as collected by Michael Sperberg-McQueen. [12 September 1996 ]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996].
• A [n almost the latest] version of the W3C draft document in HTML format: available from the Textuality server: http://www.textuality.com/sgml-erb/WD-xml.html; [ unofficial mirror copy, 961104 ]
• Official document of November 01, 1996 is: "Extensible Markup Language. W3C Working Draft 1-Nov-96, [WD-xml-961101]" edited by Tim Bray [Textuality] and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen [University of Illinois at Chicago]. This version is available via the W3C server: http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-xml.html
• Extensible Markup Language. Version 1.0. W3C Working Draft 14-November-96. Reference number: WD-xml-961114. This version is "intended for review by W3C members and other interested parties." Available in HTML format from the W3C WWW server: http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-xml-961114.html
• Available from the Textuality server; [mirror copy, from November 15, 1996]
• W3C SGML ERB Working Document Repository, representing "a snapshot of work under way in the World Wide Web Consortium SGML Editorial Review Board." Maintained by Tim Bray [NB: "These documents are not official in any sense..."] The following four links are from this document collection:
• W3C-SGML-ERB Technical Resolution 1996-01: SGML ERB and WG Organization [Approved 1996.08.07]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996]
• W3C SGML ERB External Communication 1996-01: Bootstrap Process for Specialized WG/ERB [Approved 1996.08.07]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996]
• Draft DD-1996-0001 - Design Principles for XML [Date: August 25, 1996]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996]
• Features and Rules of ISO 8879. A Summary for Use In Discussions of the W3C SGML Working Group And Editorial Review Board. Document W3C-SGML-ERB DD-1996-0002, by C. M. Sperberg-McQueen. Contains a linked listing of proposed subsets or simplifications of SGML, as collected by Michael Sperberg-McQueen. [12 September 1996 ]; [unofficial mirror copy, November 5, 1996].
• Extensible Hyper Linkage (XHL): WD-xhl-970211 - "Working Draft" only, [Version 1.0 INITIAL DRAFT, partial redraft, 11 February 1997, . . .intended for public discussion]; [mirror]
• Announcement from Tim Bray of Textuality for Lark, an XML processor. From the descriptive document "An Introduction to XML Processing with Lark," the abstract of which says, in part: "Lark is a non-validating XML processor implemented in the Java language; it attempts to achieve good trade-offs among compactness, completeness, and performance. . . Lark is available on the Internet for general public use."
• XML parser written in Java, by Norbert Mikula. The lexical analyzer and the grammar has been defined using the parser generator Jack. In pre-beta stage. URL: NXP - Norbert's XML Parser, and a small test instance, by Jon Bosak. (January 14, 1997)
• Status of XML work (January 08, 1997), by Job Bosak
• A [n almost the latest] version of the W3C draft document in HTML format: available from the Textuality server: http://www.textuality.com/sgml-erb/WD-xml.html; [ unofficial mirror copy, 961104 ]
• Official document of November 01, 1996 is: "Extensible Markup Language. W3C Working Draft 1-Nov-96, [WD-xml-961101]" edited by Tim Bray [Textuality] and C. M. Sperberg-McQueen [University of Illinois at Chicago]. This version is available via the W3C server: http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/TR/WD-xml.html
• See the section on "SGML Revision" for additional links to documents describing a simplified SGML: ( e.g., 'MGML' by Tim Bray, and 'Minimal SGML Feature Set,' by Eliot Kimber)
• The eXtensible Markup Language (XML) -- A report on the work to date [November 07, 1996] of the SGML on the Web ERB, by Martin Bryan, The SGML Centre. [mirror copy, November 07, 1996]; [mirror copy, October 30, 1996]
• W3C XML Interest Group [was: SGML Working Group] - "a technical forum for review and discussion of the XML specifications" 1996.10.04; [mirror copy]