The First Printed Translations into English 1

The First Printed Translations into English 1

The First Printed Translations into English of the Great Foreign Classics

A Supplement to Text-Books of English Literature

 

Author: William J. Harris

 

PREFACE

 

 

This bibliography has been compiled with the view of supplementing

existing text books on English literary history, and assisting

students in preparing for examinations in Bibliography and

Literature. It will also be found of service to those who are working

for the professional examinations of the Library Association.

 

Students of literature, more particularly of English literature,

experience much difficulty in tracing the outside influences which

at various periods, or, perhaps, speaking more correctly, at all

periods, have affected or moulded our literature. The great foreign

classics have exercised a direct and decided influence upon English

literature and the object of this bibliography is to give in concise

form the authors and titles, translations and dates of the first

English translations of the chief foreign authors, and incidentally

to enable students to note the effect of such translations on the

works of many of our great imaginative writers.

 

So far as it has been possible to discover, no work of this kind

exists in this country. Students are frequently reminded of the

special need for such a bibliography as this, and to all interested

in the subject it should serve a useful purpose, and perhaps help to

fill a gap in literary bibliography.

 

Students have been asked such questions as--give the date of the

first translation into English of _Don Quixote_, of _The Arabian

Nights_, Boccaccio's _Decameron_, or of Homer. Such questions as

these naturally involve some inquiry and research on the part of the

student, and occupy a larger amount of time than is necessary for the

purpose. Hence the necessity for a brief bibliography of this nature,

which will show at a glance the first translations into English of

the most important foreign classics, and save inquirers the fatigue

of searching catalogues, bibliographies and similar works.

 

The dictionary form of arrangement has been adopted with the authors

in alphabetical order. In some instances a work has been noticed

twice, in which case the first entry will generally be found to be

an edition, either issued in an incomplete form, or with a doubtful

date. It has also been found necessary to enumerate in nearly all

cases the separate works of each author; the complete works not

appearing till a much later time. The date of original publication

has occasionally been given in brackets, and where a date is seen in

square brackets [ ], it denotes the approximate date of publication.

 

The anthologies, collections, folk and fairy tales, poetical and

traditional literature have been placed in their national order under

French, German, etc., many important minor works have been published

in these forms, and many important poems have been first translated

in these anthologies, often long before they have appeared in the

author's translated works.

 

The most important of the Anglo-Saxon, etc., romances have been

included in this Bibliography and appear generally under their

titles. These have played a very important part in the development of

our literature, and many may be considered as foreign, having derived

their origin from foreign sources.

 

No one is more conscious than the compiler of the difficulties

this little work has entailed, and no one is more conscious of its

imperfections. As far as possible each entry has been verified at

least three times, and from different sources, yet inaccuracies may

have crept in, and any corrections, additions or suggestions will be

thankfully acknowledged.

 

This bibliography could have been much enlarged, but the endeavour

has been to include only those authors whose work has gone to the

making of English literature, or who stand pre-eminent as introducing

a special school, class or form.

 

I desire to offer to Mr. James D. Brown my best thanks for his

suggestions in the early stages of this compilation, and to Dr. Baker

for his kindly criticism, and also for going through the proofs.

 

WILLIAM JAMES HARRIS.

 

_April, 1909._

 

 

 

 

FIRST ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

 

 

=ABOUT, EDMonD.= _b_. 1828, _d_. 1885. =French Writer.=

 

COLONEL FOUGAS' MISTAKE. _Tr_. J. E. Maitland. 2 v. 1878.

 

FELLAH, THE: Story of an Honest Man. _Tr_. Sir R. Roberts, 1870.

 

KING OF THE MOUNTAINS. _Tr_. L. Wraxall. 1862.

 

LAWYER'S NOSE. _Tr_. J. E. Maitland, 1878.

 

MAN WITH THE BROKEN EAR. _Tr_. H. Holt, 1867.

 

NEW LEASE OF LIFE AND SAVING A DAUGHTER'S DOWRY. _Tr_. 1860.

 

ROMAN QUESTION. _Tr_. H. C. Coape, 1859.

 

ROUND OF WRONG. _Tr_. L. Wraxall, 1861.

 

SOLDIER LOVER. _Tr_. Elton Locke, 1886.

 

TOLLA: a Tale of Modern Rome. _Tr_. L. C. C. Constable's Miscellany

of For. Lit., 1854.

 

 

=ACHILLES TATIUS. Fourth Century. Greek writer.=

 

CLEITOPHON AND LEUCIPPE. _Tr_. by Rev. R. Smith, 1855.

 

One of the decadent Greek novelists. An erotic novel of a

conventional type.

 

 

=ÆLFRIC=. _c_. 1006.

 

THE CATHOLIC HOMILIES. _Ed_. with _tr_. B. Thorpe, Ælfric Soc.,

1844-46.

 

LIVES OF SAINTS. _Ed. Text_ and _Tr_. W. W. Skeat, E.E.T.S., 1881.

 

Eminent Saxon prelate, one of the most learned of his time. His

works, upwards of eighty in number, have been republished by

the Ælfric Soc. (London, 1844-46).

 

 

=ÆSCHINES.= B.C. _b._ 389, _d._ 314. =Greek orator=.

 

THE ORATIONS OF ÆSCHINES AGAINST CTESIPHON AND DEMOSTHENES DE CORONA.

_Tr._ with notes, Andrew Portal, 1755.

 

Only three orations of A. are extant, and they relate to

charges of 'malversation and corruption against Demosthenes'.

The 'De Corona of D.' (330 B.C.) is in reply to Æschines.

 

=ÆSCHYLUS.= _b._ 525, _d._ 456 B.C. =The first of the three great

tragic poets of Greece.=

 

THE TRAGEDIES. _Tr._ by R. Potter, 1777-8.

 

The tragedies of Æschylus have affected English drama chiefly

through French and Italian dramatists. 'Samson Agonistes,' by

Milton, and 'Prometheus Unbound,' by Shelley, are unmistakable

echoes, and the latter was intended to be a sequel to Æschylus'

'Prometheus Bound'. 'Manfred' and 'Cain', by Byron, are

modelled upon A. Influenced also Racine and Corneille. The

most famous speech in Swinburne's 'Atalanta in Calydon' is a

translation from A.

 

 

=ÆSOP.= 6th century B.C. =Fabulist.=

 

Here begynneth the book of the Subtyl Historyes and Fables of

Esope.... Translated out of the French into Englysshe by William

Caxton, 1484.

 

The fables of Æsop are among the very earliest of their kind,

and probably have never been surpassed for point and brevity.

 

Nearly all subsequent fables are based upon Æsop. Has affected

all European literature. All educated or even intelligent Greeks

were supposed to know Æsop, hence their important influence.

 

 

=ALAMANNI, LUIGI=, _The Elder_. _b._ 1495, _d._ 1556. =Italian poet.=

 

LA COLTIVAZIONE (1546). [Didactic poem on agriculture.]

 

_See 'Longfellow's Poets and Poetry of the Century'._